Cursive started falling out of favor in U.S. schools after 2010 when most states adopted Common Core academic standards.

After watching their teacher meticulously draw the alphabet in cursive on a whiteboard, students in Patricia Durelli’s fourth-grade class pulled out their pencils to practice writing the letters in ...

In cursive handwriting, the individual letters of a ... only 31% of fourth grade students scored proficient or above. Philadelphia’s numbers were worse, with just 19% of fourth grade students ...

As of 2025, there are 24 states that require cursive lessons, which is up from 14 states less than a decade ago. From California to Alabama, some states start as early as third grade, and others by ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The swirling lines from Linden Bateman’s pen have been conscripted into a national fight to keep cursive writing in American classrooms. Cursive. Penmanship. Handwriting.