Editor’s note: The above video is from previous reporting.

ATLANTA, Georgia (Atlanta News First) – After Marietta City Schools (MCS) implemented a new policy limiting cell phone use at its middle schools this year, the Institute is now working with top researchers to study the impact of the strategy.

Researchers at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University will determine how the policy affects students’ mental health and academic performance, MCS said in a news release. Since the first day of school on Aug. 1, all students at Marietta Sixth Grade Academy and Marietta Middle School have been required to keep their phones and smartwatches in lockable bags during the school day.

“This is about understanding how we can create the best possible environment for students to succeed both academically and emotionally,” Superintendent Grant Rivera said in a statement. “This collaboration will not only help us implement best practices, but will also provide the research needed to truly understand how our policies impact student well-being and academic success.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: School board votes for lockable cell phone bags for Marietta middle schools

In June, the MCS school board unanimously passed the policy, to the delight of most parents. Kayla Sargent, founder of the Marietta in the Middle education coalition, said a survey of parents and teachers found that about 85 percent of respondents believed something needed to be done about cell phones in school.

“I fully support this,” Sargent, who has two middle school-aged children, previously told Atlanta News First. “You don’t have to interact much with a young person to see that phones can be distracting.”

Although the study is still in its infancy, Julie Gazmararian, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University, said the program so far appears to have had a “tremendous impact” on students’ concentration and interpersonal relationships.

“With so much attention being paid to the negative effects of social media, Marietta City Schools’ program could be a model that other public schools will soon follow,” she said.

The long-term goal of the study is to provide “actionable insights” to other educational institutions across the country. MCS said the program could also be implemented in secondary and elementary schools.

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