June 25, 2025
The state’s department of education opted to return this instruction amid its own rollback of other policies.
Georgia will bring back the long-lost art of cursive writing to its public elementary schools.
The Georgia Department of Education announced the news ahead of the 2025-2026 school year. Georgia elementary school students in grades third through fifth grade, will start learning the handwriting skill as early as July or August.
The lessons will return to the English Language Arts Standards curriculum. The department of education has already sent a guidance packet to families. “Handwriting, a basic tool for life, assists with the development of both fine motor skills and working memory skills; automatic handwriting skills facilitate active learning and efficient communications,” detailed the packet, according to WSB-TV.
“The goal is not perfect penmanship but to help students form letters and words automatically, allowing them to focus on organizing and expressing ideas clearly in writing,” the department said in the packet. “Cursive handwriting, being faster than print, enhances writing fluency, supports correct spelling, and frees up cognitive resources for higher-level writing tasks.”
For its entry-level lessons, designated for third-graders, students will learn to read and write in cursive. As they advance, they will practice their cursive writing to “build fluency and automaticity in handwriting to communicate effectively.”
The department suggested adopting one of two cursive writing styles that best match their school’s foundation handwriting teachings. It encourages schools to teach the Zaner-Bloser or D’Nealian styles for their instruction. The former method adopts an upright, print-style lettering for manuscript, while the latter uses slanted letters in both manuscript and cursive.
While Georgia has opted to bring back this practice, the state legislature has opted to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs from its schools to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order or risk federal funding.
The state’s department of education did not give further explanation as to why it is reintroducing cursive writing to its ELA curriculum, but it hopes the additional method for penmanship helps children in their communication and writing skills.
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