As schools swap out old state standards for new Common Core academics, educators are warning about an overlooked casualty of progress — cursive handwriting.
They say that, because Common Core standards don’t call for cursive instruction, public schools are more likely to drop or, at least, de-emphasize it. Their fears are not unfounded. At least 41 states do not require public schools to teach cursive reading or writing.
Ohio leaves cursive instruction up to schools and districts. Before Common Core, Ohio’s elementary school standards recommended teaching cursive in grades 3 to 4.
Common Core is silent on cursive, but it prioritizes computer use and keyboarding skills because its tests are taken on computers. Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee often means kindergartners are being taught computer skills, teachers said.
In Ohio, cursive has become a contentious subject. Ohio’s Board of Education’s Achievement Committee in July grilled the Ohio Department of Education’s specialists about cursive instruction. More questions are expected at its next board meeting in September.
Debe Terhar, the board’s president, previously said that schools should be encouraged to keep “best practices.”
“I realize that computer skills are also essential for our children to master,” she said. “I cannot imagine a child who is unable to write their own name in cursive or to be able to read the beautiful cursive writing of the Declaration of Independence.”
