Cursive handwriting makes a comeback in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania has enshrined cursive into its school curriculum.
Why it matters: Spending valuable class time teaching students to put pen to paper is a growing nationwide trend, despite students using computers for more and more assignments.
Driving the news: The new mandate, passed in February, elevates writing "print, joined italics and cursive handwriting" as an essential subject alongside reading, history and arithmetic that all Pennsylvania students must be taught in public and private schools.
- It takes effect in April.
- While the legislation is light on specifics for how and when cursive must be taught, the state Department of Education is now developing guidance and expectations for schools.
Flashback: Pennsylvania and many other states ditched cursive writing as a mandatory subject in the early 2010s when they adopted Common Core education standards, which focused more on keyboard skills.
Yes, but: Many districts across the Keystone State have continued to teach cursive.
- That includes schools in the Philly region, including the Philly district, Lower Merion School District and Central Bucks School District.
Between the lines: Studies have shown that learning cursive helps improve students' memories and motor skills.
Plus: There's a close link between reading and writing, while cursive has several additional benefits, Shawn Datchuk, a special education expert and former director of the Iowa Reading Research Center, tells Axios.
- When writing cursive, students are learning how to connect letters while engaging in spelling words — foundational skills for how much students write and the quality of their writing, he said.
- And in the age of computer spellcheckers, students still need some spelling skills to use them, he noted.
Zoom out: As of last year, students were required to learn cursive in 25 states, per mycursive.com.
What they're saying: The new cursive mandate won't change anything in district schools, Philly district spokesperson Monique Braxton tells Axios.
- Cursive is already part of the curriculum and is introduced "when appropriate as part of daily writing instruction," she said.
Yes, but: Philly district elementary teacher Dawn Hiltner tells Axios she and many of her colleagues do not currently teach cursive in their classrooms.
- Teachers are awaiting guidance from district leaders on when they're expected to begin incorporating cursive into the curriculum.
The bottom line: While some districts focus more on typing in a technologically advanced world, Hiltner says some teachers have a "longing to go back to a time when things were a little simpler."