TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Cursive will be returning to schools throughout Florida, as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring third through fifth-grade students to be proficient in the writing form.
Parent and teacher Becky Carlan has been teaching for more than 20 years and is currently homeschooling her children.
“We taught cursive first. Our children did not learn to print before they wrote in cursive,” Carlan said.
She said she’s noticed significant benefits in teaching her children to write in cursive at a young age.
“They start by not taking the pencil off the paper, and suddenly, they need to be thinking ahead about what they’re going to write,” Carlan said. “So that translates into reading. As they’re reading, they’re used to looking ahead and thinking ahead on the paper, so they read more fluently.”
Cursive was a requirement in Florida schools until 2010. Now that it’s making a return, fifth-grade students will also have to pass a test proving they can read and write in cursive.
“The question is, do you need to do cursive to practice handwriting instruction?” Allison Moltisanti, a neuropsychologist with Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, said.
Moltisanti said practicing handwriting in general – whether that’s print or cursive – should be the goal for children, especially with the prevalence of technology.
“If kids are very confident in how to form letters and they have a lot of practice in how to form letters, when they’re writing, they don’t have to spend as much time thinking about ‘How do I form this letter or what does this letter look like?’” Moltisanti said. “So, it does help with literacy and writing fluency to have a lot of practice in handwriting in general, but does that have to be cursive? That’s not necessarily proven.”
While teaching cursive to children can require more time and patience, Carlan says it’s been worth it for her children.
“I think the process of teaching block letters, maybe at first, can be a little bit easier, but I think the long-term rewards and just the ease of cursive writing pays huge benefits in terms of fine motor skills development and other artistic skills,” she said.
The bill takes effect July 1, meaning cursive will be implemented for students in the upcoming school year.
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