Richmond County BOE proposes new guidelines to teach cursive writing starting at 3rd grade level

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Teaching cursive writing seems to be a thing of the past – or so you would think.

The Richmond County Board of Education is proposing new guidelines to teach cursive writing to elementary students around the district.

But school leaders say the idea is to introduce the concept to elementary students at an earlier age than they are now.

“What we’ve done is basically added to it and made it a longer process. So instead of it being just being 4th and 5th grade technique, it’s now 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade,” said School Board Chairman, Charlie Walker.

Cursive writing is currently being taught to 4th and 5th graders around the district–but they’re working to introduce the idea at the 3rd grade level.

The proposed guidelines were discussed at last night’s school board meeting, as part of the new Georgia K-12 English Language Arts Standards.

School Board Chair Charlie Walker says the idea is to enhance the process of learning what he calls a “lost art”.

“So the 3rd grade is basically forming the letters, understanding the connectivity, recognizing them. As you move into 4th grade, it becomes more of a connectivity thing–can you spell words, can you make sentences, can you read those. And then in 5th grade, it’s a little bit more expanded, a little bit more advanced. As you’re able to–hopefully to some proficiency–write in cursive, but also be able to read and understand what’s trying to be communicated. So, it’s a gentle progression through those three grades,” said Walker.

According to the standards, 3rd graders would be expected to “practice forming cursive letters and connectors in words, and use appropriate spacing between cursive words in a sentence.”

The goal for 4th graders is to “form cursive letters and words legibly, using connectors between letters inside words, and use appropriate spacing between cursive words in a sentence across lines on a page.”

The idea for 5th graders is to “produce texts using cursive writing legibly and efficiently, and use appropriate spacing throughout the body of a text when writing in cursive.”

Students in South Carolina learn cursive starting in 5th grade, but earlier this year two bills were introduced from the House and Senate that would aim to teach cursive as early as the 2nd grade.

So by following a similar path here in Richmond County, Walker says this could lead to higher academic achievement.

“I would also hope that it would knock down any obstacles that might come somebody’s way in the future. If you’re presented with something, and it’s not a skillset that you have, then that becomes an obstacle,” Walker said. “So, if we can erase that obstacle, or at least try our best to erase that obstacle, it only gives somebody more of a chance to succeed.”

The new school year for elementary students began just over a week ago on Monday, August 5th.

The proposed guidelines have not been implemented, but once they are approved by administration, they would be put in place for the 2025-26 school year.

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