Cursive handwriting instruction will return to classrooms across Kentucky at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The legislation, originally sponsored by State Senator Lindsay Tichenor (R – Jefferson, Oldham, Trimble), was largely championed by Iris Hatfield, a Middletown handwriting experience with more than half a century of experience.
Once a source of pride, it was dropped from academic standards after the federal education initiative Common Core was adopted by Kentucky in 2010. However, many educators still consider cursive writing important to students’ cognitive development.
Interestingly, no two people’s cursive handwriting is alike. Cursive is a writing style where each character is joined together, and a pen or pencil is only lifted from the paper between words which makes it a faster method of taking notes. Children learn visually, kinetically, and through auditory experience. When all three are employed, memory is increased. Educators believe the kinetic motor skills used to write in cursive help learners imprint knowledge by engaging neurological pathways.
The argument against teaching cursive is that it is obsolete; most people communicate by typing on keyboards. Despite that, being able to read and comprehend cursive writing is still a necessary skill. Nearly all historical documents are written in cursive. Chances are grandparents send postcards and letters to their grandchildren that they are unable to read unless the children know cursive. Many people, such as postal workers and bank tellers, are required to read cursive.
Hatfield had a career in analyzing handwriting. Working with corporations, she advised them on whether an applicant for a job would be a good fit. Over the years, she estimates viewing more 53,000 handwriting samples.
“I had a fabulous career and was able to see the value of being able to fluidly communicate with the written word,” she says. “Now, many of our high school students are unable to read cursive or even sign their name on a driver’s application.”
Hatfield brought her concerns before the Kentucky Commissioners of Education to try to explain the importance of cursive instruction. “Then I saw Senator Tichenor was introducing a bill for cursive writing to be a course of study in elementary schools to ensure proficiency by the end of grade five,” Hatfield says. “I sent her an email to encourage and thank her. She got right back to me and after we spoke, she asked if I would testify before the education committee.”
Hatfield addressed the state legislature in February and the information she shared was well received. Senate Bill 167 passed with only one “No” vote before being sent to the House where it passed there as well.
Now, cursive writing instruction is a requirement for Kentucky elementary schools.
“One of the contributing factors to the decline in penmanship was that teachers are not given student cursive workbooks or the resources to competently instruct students,” Hatfield says. “I saw the need for a penmanship program that was easy to teach and fun to learn. After conferring with Penmanship Council and numerous educators, I wrote the New American Cursive [NAC] Penmanship Program.”
The workbooks in the program are for first-graders through adults. Hatfield simplified the letter forms of the NAC alphabet by removing the curly cues and flourishes that make people think cursive is old-fashioned. For instance, “T”, “F” and “Z” now look like print. Twenty-three extra strokes were removed so the letters are now clear, classic, and speedy to write.
The program is designed to take only 15 minutes a day to learn the simplified forms. The very youngest students master one letter a week. Hatfield says the program has exploded in popularity, with so many parents and schoolteachers requesting guidance on improving their own handwriting skills that she wrote Teach Yourself Cursive, a workbook for adults and students fifth grade and up.
The NAC Penmanship Program’s website, NewAmericanCursive.com, contains resources and information. Visitors to the site can find links to two podcasts and a Facebook live presentation. Each workbook offered is explained. The workbooks range from beginning, intermediate, and more advanced and include options of standard textbooks with famous American quotes to ones that contain scripture passages. Workbooks for left-handed writers are also available.
“The brain remembers more what you write down than what you type. When you write something down it’s like engraving it in the brain. Learning improves reading, writing, and spelling skills. Cursive is an educational bargain,” says Hatfield.
“In all my years of being a handwriting specialist, I have never met a person who regretted learning to write a nice cursive script,” she says. “I am thankful it is coming back to schools. Children deserve this.”
Visit NewAmericanCursive.com for more information about the New American Cursive Penmanship Program.
Comments 3
I am glad that it is returing I think it is important for every person. I also think that common core should be done away with. It is sad when you watch a grown child who uses a calculator and they don’t know how to count the change that is to be given back.
I believe that they should have never stopped writing in cursive to start with because they are right because if you write down in cursive you will remember it and also they are so many children and adults that doesn’t know how to write their names in cursive or they don’t know or ever heard of cursive writing. It’s a sad day in America to think about how many people are not able to do this. I’m very proud I learned cursive in school and to this day I write in cursive.
I am very happy that cursive is making a comeback in schools all across the nation. It is a necessary part of brain development in children, fine motor skills, and education in general. Keyboards have their place but not to the exclusion of cursive writing. Thank you Senator Tichenor and Mrs. Hatfield for your long hours and work on this vital live-skill.