Cursive Writing Now Required to Be Taught in California Schools
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Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Oct. 13 mandating cursive writing instruction from the first through sixth grades
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Stock image of cursive writingCalifornia students will have to go old-school when it comes to penmanship.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Oct. 13 requiring that cursive writing be taught in the state’s schools.
“This bill would require handwriting instruction for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, to include instruction in cursive or joined italics in the appropriate grade levels. To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on local educational agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program,” the text to Assembly Bill 446 read.
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Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva introduced the bill, which would require teachers to make sure there is cursive instruction offered from the first through sixth grade. A former elementary school teacher, she told The Sacramento Bee in September that the purpose of the legislation is to give students the ability to read and write in cursive. To illustrate her point, she said that most artifacts from history, such as letters and diaries, were written in joined italics.
“A lot of the historical documents going back two or three decades are actually in cursive,” Quirk-Silva told the newspaper. “I went on 23andMe looking for some family records and they were all written in cursive.”
Prior to the new legislation, cursive had not been a requirement in California schools since 2010, per CBS affiliate KFMB.
“Research has shown that cursive handwriting enhances a child's brain development including memorization and improves fine motor skills,” Quirk-Silva told the outlet. “This bill ensures that the younger generation is equipped with the skills needed to navigate the demands of the world of today, and to connect with their history in the world of yesterday.”
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The Los Angeles County Office of Education expressed support for the legislation, per SFGate, writing: “There are clear connections between the linguistic processes of reading and the motor process of handwriting, which keyboarding skills do not replicate. The mechanics of handwriting follows a sequence initiated in the brain, similar to reading — the sound is heard and processed, a letter attached and visualized, then translated into a shape on a page and produced with motor skills that reinforce the direction of lines and shapes to form letters. These letters then connect to form words and meaning is attached.”
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According to Abigail Soriano-Lentz, an English language arts curriculum coordinator for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, California, cursive writing had not been part of the standards for a long time, ABC affiliate KABC reported, “so we have quite a chunk of teachers who have not taught it and who haven't needed to teach it and some who probably were not taught it themselves.”
Meanwhile, Oceanside Unified School District in San Diego County will be ready should there be a learning curve involving cursive writing when the new law goes into effect in January 2024.
"We have training opportunities for our teachers, Also, with this built into the curricula, there are opportunities in their teachers' manuals to gather that information," said Vicki Gravlin, executive director of curriculum instruction for Oceanside Unified, KFMB reported.
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