Question: I am concerned because my children's elementary school seems to have eliminated cursive handwriting instruction because it is not a Common Core Standard for the English language arts curriculum. Is this happening across the country? -- Not for Elimination
Answer: The Common Core Standards that were released in 2010 definitely put cursive writing in the backseat to keyboarding. These standards did not specifically require cursive instruction for elementary school students. States could, however, add cursive writing to the required curriculum or delegate the decision to individual school districts.
A hot debate has emerged across the country on the merits of including cursive writing in the curriculum. Like your school district, some districts have dropped cursive from the curriculum entirely. At the same time, a few districts have decided to strengthen their cursive handwriting curriculum. Many districts are rather undecided about what to do. They have generally opted to devote less and less time to cursive handwriting instruction.
Fortunately, considerable research is now being done on the merits of cursive writing. This should make future decisions on teaching cursive easier