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Cursive has been on the upswing for years now. More than two dozen states now require cursive instruction in schools after the 2010 Common Core standards omitted the skill. Kenerson, a multilingual teacher at Holmes, started the middle school cursive club when students couldn't read her writing on the board. They just stared at her blankly, she said. "I realized they didn't know how to write or read in cursive," Kenerson said. For an educator who firmly believes that quotes deserve to be written in cursive, and has a new one on her board each month, Kenerson wanted to give...

PENNSYLVANIA - Starting next month, all public and private schools in Pennsylvania will be required to reintroduce cursive handwriting into their curriculum.

ATLANTA — When younger students return to Georgia public schools this fall, they will learn an old-school skill: handwriting. New changes to the state standards for English Language Arts will require the teaching of cursive writing in elementary school. The state Board of Education approved the standards overhaul two years ago but gave teachers until this fall to prepare. Georgia is joining other states, from Alabama to Texas, that are resurrecting a skill that had seemingly gone the way of the dodo after the proliferation of laptops and touchscreen devices. Even California, the cradle of computer keyboards, passed a law...

If you have expertise in reading cursive, then there’s an opportunity that might peak your interest. The National Archives is looking for someone who can transcribe (or classify) more than 200 years’ worth of U.S. documents. Which historical documents must be transcribed? A team within the federal agency is looking for volunteers to read and transcribe records from Revolutionary War pension records that include applications and other records related to claims for pensions and bounty land warrants. Other historical materials include immigration documents from the 1890s and Japanese evacuation records. What they're saying: Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the...

Cursive has been controversial for years. The striking thing is that the Education Establishment feels really, really strongly about cursive. They hate it! But why are they so emotional? One professor of education stated emphatically: "Teaching cursive handwriting is an outdated waste of time." A second professor of education, quoted in the New York Times, was equally dogmatic: "Districts and states should not mandate the teaching of cursive. Cursive should be allowed to die." You are hearing the imperious voice of an impatient Education Establishment. They do not want to discuss pros and cons. They want to have a funeral...

One of the things to be dropped from New Jersey classroom requirements under Common Core standards nearly a decade ago was cursive writing. Now, a state assemblywoman has proposed adding the "life skill" to existing lessons so that New Jersey children can read and write in cursive by the end of third grade. Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, D-Hudson, said she had first-hand experience with the consequence of leaving out such instruction when her son, then a third-grader, could not read something she had written by hand. Years later, McKnight's son is a college undergrad who can sign his name in cursive...

Cursive writing has fallen away from the curriculum in a lot of Texas schools in recent years, but the writing style is making a comeback. Austin ISD does not teach cursive to its general student body, but the district says that will change in the 2019-2020 school year, as it will for schools all over the state. The shift is due to updates to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, for language arts. The State Board of Education changed the requirements in 2017, and they go into effect next school year. Starting this fall, students will be required...

Louisiana’s public school classrooms will be required to teach cursive writing to students starting with the new school year. That mandate, approved by lawmakers in 2016 but delayed a year so schools could prepare, is among more than two dozen new laws

Louisiana's public school classrooms will be required to teach cursive writing to students starting with the new school year. That mandate, approved by lawmakers in 2016 but delayed a year so schools could prepare, is among more than two dozen new laws that take effect Saturday (July 1).

NEW YORK – Cursive writing is looping back into style in schools across the country after a generation of students who know only keyboarding, texting and printing out their words longhand. Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schools, the latest of 14 states that require cursive. And last fall, the 1.1 million-student New York City schools, the nation's largest public school system, encouraged the teaching of cursive to students, generally in the third grade. "It's definitely not necessary but I think it's, like, cool to have it," said Emily Ma, a 17-year-old senior at...

Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schoolsCursive writing is looping back into style in schools across the country after a generation of students raised on keyboarding, texting and printing out letters longhand. Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schools, the latest of 14 states to require cursive. And last fall, the 1.1 million-student New York City school system encouraged teaching cursive to students in the third grade. Penmanship proponents contend writing words in a single line is just a faster way of taking notes. Others say students...

COLUMBUS (WCMH) – A Columbus-area state representative has introduced legislation that could make cursive writing a requirement in Ohio schools. Rep. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell and Rep. Marilyn Slaby, R-Akron introduced HB 58 on Monday. The bill adds the following to the state’s educational requirements:

State Sen. Don Gustavson is using history as his guide as he again attempts to require Nevada students to learn cursive handwriting by the end of third grade. Gustavson, R-Sparks, has even included the Founding Fathers in his cursive cause, which began with the 2015 legislative session and continued last week when he filed essentially the same bill draft that previously died in committee. This time around, he believes testimony from history and education experts will propel SB86 into law. “All of our original founding documents and letters from our Founding Fathers were almost all done in cursive writing,” Gustavson...

Modern educators are dismissive of cursive. Indeed, many are hostile to such a degree that you should immediately suspect that they are up to something. Here is an education journalist providing the Party Line: "Cursive writing is an anachronism. Spending any classroom time on it is comparable to teaching how to use an abacus: it's interesting as a history lesson, and probably offers some side benefits, but it is not at all practical as a day-to-day skill in the modern, connected world." A professor of education argues: "Cursive should be allowed to die. In fact, it's already dying, despite having...

PHOENIX — Insisting it's good from everything from civics to brain development, state lawmakers want to require students to know how to read and write in cursive. Legislation on the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey would mandate that schools include cursive reading and writing in their curriculum. Specifically, students would have to show by the end of fifth grade they are "able to create readable documents through legible cursive handwriting.'' But, unlike a requirement that students know how to read by the end of the third grade, there is nothing in the law that says students who can't display that...

Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan said President Trump’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education is “not going to happen,” citing necessary congressional action. “First of all, (the Trump administration) cannot eliminate the Department of Education,” he told “NewsNation Now,” on Wednesday. “That takes an act of Congress. That’s not going to happen.” Duncan, however, stressed that the White House could still move to neuter the department. “Could they weaken the department? Could they move functions to other agencies — to Health and Human Services, to the Labor Department, to Treasury? That is possible,” he said. Trump is preparing to...

Under the leadership of Common Core czar David Coleman, the College Board has been creating or rewriting Advanced Placement (AP) courses to reflect a leftist worldview. AP courses such as U.S. History and European History now push a decidedly left-of-center narrative that conflicts with traditional scholarship and introduces a de facto national curriculum for the advanced students who populate AP classes. But some states are beginning to challenge the woke-ification of AP. The latest AP controversy centers on the radical new AP African-American Studies (APAAS) course, recently piloted nationally and now rolled out in its final form. But some state...

How do you fix a failing high school? Change the grades. Under pressure to boost student achievement, the state-designated “out of time” Automotive HS in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has resorted to rigging Regents exam scores. The failing scores of five students who took the Regents in January were switched to passing scores of 65 or higher on their transcripts, the city Department of Education has confirmed. One junior saw his scores upped to pass two exams required for graduation — Living Environment (biology) and algebra — even though he had failed both classes. The student insisted he deserved a break on...

The university's VP of Academic Affairs said the changes will no longer 'mask' students' 'demonstrated abilities'.. An Oregon university announced they will abandon failing letter grades, citing a "GPA fixation" that negatively impacts students. Western Oregon University issued a news release earlier this month that revealed the school would be replacing "D-" and "F" grades with "no credit" to discourage undergrads from dropping out. ... The difference is that the grade of NC will not negatively impact student GPAs, ... the decision came after data from the university showed that 65% of freshman students who dropped out had earned at...