Georgia to restart cursive writing classes for elementary students

 In WSBTV.com. Read the whole story here.

ATLANTA — The 2025 school year in Georgia will start in August and this time, it’s bringing back an older lesson plan for its newer students.

Starting in August, third through fifth graders will have lessons on how to write in cursive, also called script.

When students return to classrooms after summer break ends, the Georgia Department of Education will begin cursive writing courses for public school students.

The instruction was added as part of the updated English Language Arts Standards curriculum for the 2025-2026.

As part of the move to teach cursive again, the GaDOE put out a guidance packet for parents to help with the handwriting courses.

From the Guidance Packet:

Overview of Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts Standards 

Handwriting, a basic tool for life, assists with the development of both fine motor skills and working memory skills; automatic handwriting skills facilitate active learning and efficient communications (Georgia Department of Education, 2024). 

Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Standards are intentionally designed to provide a strong literacy foundation beginning in the early grades. In addition to the K-12 domains of Practices, Texts, and Language, the K-5 grade band also includes the Foundations domain. The big ideas within this domain include (I) Phonological Awareness, (II) Concepts of Print, (III) Phonics, (IV) Fluency, and (V) Handwriting. 

Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Standards require students in kindergarten through fifth grade to learn to communicate effectively through reading and writing using print and cursive handwriting. 

Georgia’s K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) Standards introduce cursive writing in the third grade. In fourth and fifth grade, students continue cursive handwriting practice to build fluency and automaticity in handwriting to communicate effectively. Research indicates that students need at least two years of instruction to automatize a handwriting process (Wolf, Abbott, & Berninger, 2016) and that automatized handwriting significantly improves the quantity and quality of students’ writing (Van Cleave, 2020). The goal is for students to read and write in cursive fluently and automatically. By automatizing these transcription processes, students free up their working memory, allowing them to focus on higher-level writing skills."

MCPS chromebooks’ short lifespans pose issues for students [FYI: In Maryland Public School Curriculum is FREE. Students do NOT pay for Textbooks.]

...It also saves time and money with students no longer having to pay for textbooks that aren’t fully used or might not be completely up-to-date...

 
...In addition, students have expressed positive views about Chromebook usage. “I personally believe the increased Chromebook usage has had a positive change, especially when writing essays and doing projects. It is much easier for me to type than write, and my hand doesn’t hurt when I’m done. It is also more efficient as I can type much faster than I can write,” Feuerstein said.

With an increased reliance on Chromebooks, however, comes several flaws that have been popping up locally and across the nation. A 2023 report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund found that the short lifespan of Chromebooks, compounded by a lack of support repair and a built-in end for software support, often leaves schools with failing devices that saddle districts with additional costs. 

Faltering Chromebooks have been a recurring issue for students at RM as well. “My old Chromebook had a bad battery life but I swapped it out. That Chromebook had heating issues and some of the keys and the chassis began to warp and it got hot enough to burn me,” sophomore Dinh Cao said.

“It annoys me that Chromebooks continue to be produced with these malfunctions and that these issues are not generally addressed by Google,” Feuerstein said...

MCPS chromebooks’ short lifespans pose issues for students – The Tide (thermtide.com)

At a Small Maine School, Cursive Endures and Wins National Awards

Although cursive handwriting “is a dying field,” as one teacher said, it has made a comeback in some schools, including one in Maine where two students won awards this month...

...Although cursive handwriting is not as widely seen or as prominent as decades past, it has made a comeback in some classrooms. After Common Core standards no longer required that cursive be taught in public elementary schools in 2010, some administrators — including in districts in Texas, Ohio and Illinois — reintroduced a cursive curriculum in elementary schools...

...Sasha Morrissette, Christian’s mother, said that her son, who has autism, enjoyed creating character art, and that his artistic skills helped to improve his handwriting skills.

“He just has the ability to replicate things, like his memory is incredible, and I think that helps with this,” Ms. Morrissette said. “He was able to look at the example and just kind of picture it in his head, and he was able to transform it into a nice piece of writing.”..

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/us/writing-cursive-students.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210525&instance_id=31504&nl=the-morning&regi_id=92976244&segment_id=58949&te=1&user_id=0660cb1477d0cec16ea24837e687f1bc

Bill to Require MD Schools to Teach Print & Cursive Handwriting

From Facebook:

Elizabeth Levy-Hembling shared a link.

Del Joseph Joseph Carroll Boteler is sponsoring a bill that will be heard on February 13th (Thursday) in the House Ways and Means Committee requiring public schools to teach print handwriting by 3rd grade and cursive by 5th grade. The bill number is HB 725. This bill will face opposition from school systems that do not want the state to dictate to them. We need parents to write letters/testimony to support this bill.

Handwriting was taken out of much of the curriculum because of common core. It is so much more important than being able to write a signature or read cursive. There is a ton of data connecting handwriting instruction to spelling, reading, content of writing, note taking, and the retention of material. The science behind the importance of handwriting and how it is connected to literacy as well as lifetime academic achievement is well documented, yet most parents are unaware of the importance of kids learning to write properly. Please help support this bill. I fear it will be an uphill battle, and we really need your support. You can send letters to Del Boteler’s office. Emails for the committee are attached.

Thank you!

House Ways and Means Committee

darryl.barnes@house.state.md.us
joseph.boteler@house.state.md.us 
jason.buckel@house.state.md.us
alice.cain@house.state.md.us
eric.ebersole@house.state.md.us
jessica.feldmark@house.state.md.us
michele.guyton@house.state.md.us
kevin.hornberger@house.state.md.us
julien.ivey@house.state.md.us
anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us 
maryann.lisanti@house.state.md.us
bob.long@house.state.md.us 
eric.luedtke@house.state.md.us
nick.mosby@house.state.md.us 
julie.palakovichcarr@house.state.md.us
edith.patterson@house.state.md.us 
april.rose@house.state.md.us 
haven.shoemaker@house.state.md.us
stephanie.smith@house.state.md.us
jheanelle.wilkins@house.state.md.us

https://www.mdcounties.org/239/2020-House-Ways-Means-Committee?fbclid=IwAR1QWGmfbfEpijOH5r1Dw2OwB9cP8xmgph3ROP6M7uQ7sUaeuxHuJY6oiWc

National Handwriting Day: 20 Quotes About The Power Of Writing

National Handwriting Day: 20 Quotes About The Power Of Writing

Debate on whether cursive writing should still be taught

As someone whose children did not learn cursive in MCPS elementary schools, I found this interesting. Did your child learn cursive? Is your child's handwriting legible? In-class college exams are usually handwritten. The SAT essay is handwritten. At what point did MCPS teachers decide cursive is of no relevance to an educated person?

From The Baltimore Sun:
By Liz Bowie
November 26, 2011

Darius Riley displays the concentration of a tightrope walker as he fastens his eyes on the lined paper in front of him and grips his No. 2 yellow pencil down to its point to make his most perfect curly letters.

"I would rather do it in print because it is faster," Darius, a fifth-grader at Highlandtown Elementary School near Patterson Park, said of his cursive writing. Even his typing would probably be quicker, he says.

Cursive is not included in the so-called common core standards, which will govern teaching and lesson plans in 46 states including Maryland beginning next year, leaving states free to shift away from a subject taught for centuries. Hawaii and Indiana have already dropped it.

With technology pervasive in society and fewer documents that need a cursive signature, some educators say there is no need to bother kids with the tedious, time-consuming lessons on cursive. They argue that we soon may no longer need to sign our names on legal documents or credit card receipts; a scan of our eyeballs or a thumbprint may be all that is needed to identify us.

But there's more than just necessity that should be considered, historians say.

"Cursive writing is a matter of discipline and training in our culture. Is it necessary to the future of sustaining our culture and our understanding of our past? I believe it is," said Maryland State Archivist Edward C. Papenfuse. He believes children should learn it "not only as a means of sustaining communication with the past, but also an exercise in maintaining small motor control."

And he's the first to admit: "As one who has very messy handwriting and nearly illegible script, I have always preferred typing."

The Maryland State Department of Education will continue to suggest that cursive be taught in schools. Mary Cary, assistant state superintendent for instruction, said that every school district is given flexibility to make its own decision. Baltimore City schools leave the choice of whether to teach cursive up to each school principal, as does Anne Arundel County. Baltimore and Howard counties still require students to use cursive in elementary grades.

and:

Research on the importance of cursive writing is mixed. Because not all students have access to computers at school, kids do most work there in handwriting, according to Steve Graham, an education professor at Vanderbilt University. Studies show that legibility makes a difference.

When researchers had student work graded in both typed and written form, the paper's legibility affected the grade."If your handwriting is not legible then you will pay a price," Graham said.

To read the entire story go here.