Struggling Readers in Secondary Schools Survey

 Based on a national survey of teachers, principals, and district leaders, this report highlights widespread concerns—especially in higher-poverty schools—and examines key questions about training, resources, and family support. Data-driven findings point to solutions for strengthening secondary literacy. Topics include training on how to support middle and high school students struggling with basic reading skills, resources to help educators assist those students, and the role of parental support.

Struggling readers in secondary schools: Results of a national survey. (2026) Education Week.

https://www.edweek.org/research-center/reports/struggling-readers-in-secondary-schools-results-of-a-national-survey?utm_source=eb&utm_medium=eml&utm_campaign=RCReport&M=17140198&UUID=38915a68716182c0a0b20ace8b5219f7&T=22403136

teens and AI report

 Students are using AI tools. The study found that a majority of U.S. teens have used AI chatbots, and many report using them to support schoolwork and research. For educators and librarians, the issue is no longer whether AI belongs in education. The real question is whether schools will teach students how to use it responsibly.

How Teens Use and View AI. (2026). Pew Research CENTER.

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/02/24/how-teens-use-and-view-ai/pi_2026-02-24_teens-and-ai_0-01/?_gl=1%2Axfpp0n%2A_up%2AMQ..%2A_gs%2AMQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk6rNBhCxARIsAN5mQLuD1rnbi9_P4wWPrGN0j3TvT5shVi4oi2y2QzkSO5EdLccyCl6dABMaAuQHEALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAA-ddO9HhIP5NLYtpLbodzRDa_adD3&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Banned Cellphone Impact Study

 A recent report indicates that nearly 80% of teens attend schools with "no cellphone" policies, but that students continue to use their devices for nonacademic purposes. Bans differ in scope, with about half of students reporting total restrictions throughout the school day and another 40% experiencing limits only during instructional time.

Rapaport, A. (2026). Cell Phone School Policies: Implementation, Perceived Impacts, and Student and Parent Beliefs. Center for Applied Research in Education at the University of Southern California   https://dornsife.usc.edu/cesr/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/01/UAS-CARE-Cell-phone-policy-results.pdf

Students' Use of AI Report

 A  nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 teenagers indicated that 72 percent of teens have used AI as companions at least once, while 21 percent use them as companions a few times per week, and 13 percent use them daily. While almost half of survey respondents (46 percent) said they view AI as tools or programs, 33 percent said they use them for social interaction and relationships, 18 percent said they use them for conversation or social practice, 12 percent said they use them for emotional or mental health support, and another 12 percent said they use them for role-playing or imaginative scenarios (multiple responses to the question were allowed). But even AI chatbots specifically designed for mental health therapy—in which these types of safeguards should be baked in—currently may not be much better suited to the task than an all-purpose bot such as ChatGPT. AI demonstrated increased stigma toward certain mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, compared to other conditions such as depression, which could lead people with those stigmatized conditions to stop seeking therapy altogether. (excerpted from School Library Journal)

The Dawn of the AI Era: Teens, Parents, and the Adoption of Generative AI at Home and School. (2025). Common Sense Media. 

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/new-report-shows-students-are-embracing-artificial-intelligence-despite-lack-of-parent-awareness-and

Journalism Study

 According to a recent report, “‘Biased,’ ‘Boring’ and ‘Bad’: Unpacking perceptions of news media and journalism among U.S. teens,” released in November 2025, 45 percent of teens said that journalists do more harm to democracy than protect it.

Biased, boring’ and ‘bad’: Unpacking perceptions of news media and journalism among U.S. teens. (2025).  News Literacy Project. https://newslit.org/news-and-research/teens-and-news-media/

Study on Teens Online

 A new report shows most US teens use YouTube and TikTok daily, with about one in five saying they are online almost constantly. The survey also found rising use of AI chatbots and notable demographic differences in platform habits, prompting continued concerns from experts about sleep, social skills and compulsive screen use.

 Faverio, M., & Sidoti, O.  (2025). Teens, social media and AI chat bots. 2025. Pew Research Center.

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/12/09/teens-social-media-and-ai-chatbots-2025/

Teen and Teacher Use of AI Studies

A recent report investigated how American teens ages 13 to 17 are engaging with AI companions, based on a nationally representative survey of 1,060 teens conducted in April and May 2025. Notably, a third of teens reported using AI companions for social interaction and relationship support.

Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions. (2025). Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/talk-trust-and-trade-offs_2025_web.pdf

 

A recent report highlights how AI tools are reshaping teachers’ workloads, boosting instructional quality, and increasing classroom optimism. According to the findings, 60% of teachers used AI tools during the 2024–25 school year, with regular weekly users saving nearly six hours per week, time they redirected toward personalized teaching, more detailed student feedback, and improved communication with parents. They found that teachers who engage with AI more frequently tend to see more potential for AI tools in education.

Teaching for Tomorrow: Unlocking Six Weeks a Year With AI. (2025). Gallup/Walton Family Foundation. https://www.gallup.com/analytics/659819/k-12-teacher-research.aspx

Trends in YA literacy study

 Despite its name, the young adult genre is increasingly dominated by stories about older teens and even adults. But as protagonists get older, younger readers are getting left behind, a University of Mississippi study indicates.

Ally Watkins. (2025). Is Popular Young Adult Literature Aging Up?, New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship.  DOI: 10.1080/13614541.2025.2513193

http://schoollibraryjournal.com/story/6-Grant-Opportunities-School-Libraries

Cell phone use in school studies

 

A recent study reveals that teens spend an average of 1.5 hours on their phones during school, with 25% exceeding two hours. This represents a significant increase from previous studies, which reported only 43 minutes of phone use during school.

Christakis D., et al. (2025). Adolescent smartphone use during school hours. JAMA Pediatrics.  doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.6627

Schools implementing cellphone bans have seen significant improvements in student behavior and engagement. The North Adams school district in Massachusetts reported a 75% drop in disciplinary referrals, while the Bentonville district in Arkansas saw a 57% reduction in aggression and a 51% decrease in drug-related offenses.
Banerji, O. (2025). What schools look like without cellphone distraction. Education Week. 
https://www.edweek.org/technology/what-schools-look-like-without-the-cellphone-distraction/2025/02
 

This report  looks at statewide laws and policies on cellphones in schools. 
Prothero, A., Langreo, L., & Klein, A. (2024). Whit states ban or restrict cellphones in school? Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/technology/which-states-ban-or-restrict-cellphones-in-schools/2024/06

Teen Video Viewing Report

 Video content is ubiquitous in students' lives, and a recent report highlights its effects on adolescents. The report emphasizes the importance of teaching students to be savvy consumers of digital media, noting that while video can be educational, it can also spread misinformation. 

APA recommendations for healthy teen video viewing. (2024). American Psychological Association . https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/apa-adolescent-video-consumption-recommendations.pdf

Teens' Favorite Social Media Platforms

 The Pew Research report reveals that YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are the most popular platforms among teens, with YouTube being used regularly by 90% of surveyed teens. Instagram and WhatsApp are seeing increased usage, while Facebook and X, the original giants of social media, have experienced significant declines in popularity among this demographic.

Faverio, M., & Sidoti, O. (2024). Teens, social media and technology. Pew Research Center.

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/

Teens and Media Literacy Survey

 A new report  reveals that 94% of teens believe media literacy should be a mandatory part of school curricula, yet only 39% have received such instruction. The report highlights the prevalence of conspiracy theories on social media, with 80% of teens encountering them and 81% inclined to believe at least one.

News literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits and skills. (2024). News Literacy Project.

https://newslit.org/news-literacy-in-america/ 

Teens and Conspiracy Theories Study

 About 80% of teenagers encounter conspiracy theories online, and many believe at least one, according to a recent report. Many teens also struggle to distinguish between advertisements and opinion, independently reported news and digital marketing campaigns, the survey found. And most think professional news organizations are just as biased as other content creators, according to the survey that formed the basis for the report. The findings underscore the need for stronger media literacy education to help students navigate misinformation. 

News Literacy Project. (2024). News literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits and skills. NLP.  https://newslit.org/news-literacy-in-america/

Teen Leisure Reading Decline Study

 A recent study found a decline in reading for fun among teenagers. That decline has been attributed to the rise of technology and excessive use of reading in standardized testing for comprehension and grading. While some teens are still avid readers, others find it hard to balance reading with their busy schedules, but librarians and educators suggest audiobooks and personalized book choices to reignite interest in reading.

Schaeffer, K. (2023). Among many U.S. children, reading for fun ahs become less common, Federal data shows. Pew Research Center. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/12/among-many-u-s-children-reading-for-fun-has-become-less-common-federal-data-shows/ and https://pewrsr.ch/3C8TEEz

AI and teens study

 A recent survey found that more than 40% of teens are likely to use artificial intelligence to complete their schoolwork, but 60% consider it cheating. As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT become more prevalent in schools, educators are grappling with how to incorporate AI use responsibly, emphasizing it as a tool to assist learning rather than a replacement for learning.

Junior Achievement. (2023). AI and tomorrow's jobs. Author.

https://jausa.ja.org/dA/79df6c0f56/criticalIssuePdfDocument/AI%20and%20Tomorrows%20%20Jobs.pdf

Teens and Social Media Survey

 Today’s teens are navigating a digital landscape unlike the one experienced by their predecessors, particularly when it comes to the pervasive presence of social media. In 2022, an in-depth survey asked American teens – and their parents – about their experiences with and views toward social media.

Findings: 

• A majority of teens use social media, YouTube being the most popular.
• TikTok use is more common among Black teens and among teen girls.
• Majorities of teens use TikTok and YouTube daily, some more often than that. 
• A majority of teens said it would be difficult to give up social media.
• Teens are more likely to say social media has had a negative effect on others than on themselves, and are more likely to report positive social media use experiences than negative ones.
• When it comes to social media platforms abuse, many teens think criminal charges or permanent bans would help a lot.
• Some teens, especially older teen girls, avoid posting certain things on social media out of fear of embarrassment or other reasons.
• Many teens don't think that have control over what information that social media companies collect about them.
• Some 22% of teens think their parents are extremely or very worried about them using social media, but 46% of parents ARE worried. 

Vogels, E., Gelles-Watnick, R., & Massarat, N. (2023). Teens, social media and technology. Pew Reserach Center. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/

Family media use study

 A national study found that completing a family media use plan was not linked to statistically significant changes in media rule engagement among adolescents. An editorial that was published alongside the study delved into some of the reasons that can complicate using a family media use plan in adolescents including the increasing use of screens in both education and socialization as well as the urge to fight against parental expectations.

Moreno M, Binger K, Zhao Q, Eickhoff J. Effect of a family media use plan on media rule engagement among adolescents. JAMA Pediatrics. January 25, 2021. Epub ahead of print. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.5629

https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/view/do-media-plans-impact-teen-media-use

Student Media Literacy Research

A nationwide sampling of high school students were assessed for their ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet. Nearly all students floundered. Ninety percent received no credit on four of six tasks. Some of the specific findings follow: 

• Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries (the video was actually shot in Russia) constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video, even though a quick search turns up a variety of articles exposing the ruse. 
• Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.
• Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on superficial markers of credibility: the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain, or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

Breakstone, J., Smith, M., Wineburg, S., Rapaport, A., Carle, J., Garland, M., & Saavedra, A. (2019). Students’ civic online reasoning: A national portrait. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford History Education Group & Gibson Consulting. https://purl.stanford.edu/gf151tb4868

Media Use by Tweens and Teens 2019

This census report is a big-picture look at how young people in the U.S. find entertainment and use devices. Beyond screen time, the report explores other critical challenges for families managing media use, from internet access for homework to unregulated, unrated online videos.

Common Sense Media. (2019). Common Sense census: Media use by tweens and teens 2019. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.  

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2019?j=7514895&sfmc_sub=168224478&l=2048712_HTML&u=137031445&mid=6409703&jb=220&utm_source=research_8-18census_2019&utm_medium=email 

 

Teen stress research

Anxiety and depression are on the rise among America’s youth and, whether they personally suffer from these conditions or not, seven-in-ten teens today see them as major problems among their peers. Concern about mental health cuts across gender, racial and socio-economic lines, with roughly equal shares of teens across demographic groups saying it is a significant issue in their community.
Fewer teens, though still substantial shares, voice concern over bullying, drug addiction and alcohol consumption. More than four-in-ten say these are major problems affecting people their age in the area where they live, according to a survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17. When it comes to the pressures teens face, academics tops the list: 61% of teens say they feel a lot of pressure to get good grades. By comparison, about three-in-ten say they feel a lot of pressure to look good (29%) and to fit in socially (28%), while roughly one-in-five feel similarly pressured to be involved in extracurricular activities and to be good at sports (21% each). And while about half of teens see drug addiction and alcohol consumption as major problems among people their age, fewer than one-in-ten say they personally feel a lot of pressure to use drugs (4%) or to drink alcohol (6%).
Horowitz, J., & Graf, N. (2019).  Most U.S. teens see anxiety and depression as a major problem among their peers. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/02/20/most-u-s-teens-see-anxiety-and-depression-as-a-major-problem-among-their-peers/