Rebecca Burylo

Montgomery Advertiser

Cursive writing may be a lost art since the advent of keyboards and smart phones, but not in Alabama public schools.

A new state law will make sure of that.

Lexi's Law, which goes into effect Aug. 1, will require cursive handwriting to be taught by the end of third grade in all state schools. In Montgomery Public Schools, knowing how to write cursive starts in second grade. By third grade, students should be proficient in writing words and sentences in cursive.

Lexi's Law gives more teeth to classroom instruction by requiring a standardized way of learning cursive. Teachers will be introduced to a new instructional plan next week, which will give student benchmarks for this school year, said Jaclyn Brown, district literacy coach for MPS.

"We have outlined the letter order cursive writing should be taught base on research," Brown said. "We have also provided a chart with daily cursive writing targets, in addition to electronic source documents that teachers can pull from."

A five-day lesson plan will also show teachers what should be covered each day throughout the week to include sample lessons, homework expectations and a rubric for learning.

Cursive writing will begin in second grade with how to write lower-case and upper-case letters and will continue to be practiced in fourth and fifth grades.

Pike Road Schools plan to start their cursive curriculum much earlier and plan to "embed a balance of cursive and manuscript" into the language arts curriculum in kindergarten and continue through the third grade. The standards will mirror those set by the Alabama Department of Education on how to implement Lexi's Law.

When reaching out to local parents and teachers about Lexi's Law, many were positive explaining the benefits they have seen in teaching cursive writing to their children and students, especially those with learning disabilities.

Andrea Overman teaches at Alabama Christian Academy and said there is benefits to learning cursive writing before print.

"With cursive all letters start on the baseline, which is the same place and therefore less confusing," Overman said. "Individual words are connected with spaces between words, which helps with word recognition."

Jared and Chelsea Jones are foster parents and they teach their children cursive first for similar reasons. It requires less muscle control for their children who have fine motor issues.

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Kristina Boddie's daughter was simply intrigued by cursive writing.

"I can tell you that my girl, who just completed third grade, was very interested in using cursive writing when they were teaching it at her school," Boddie said. "She likes to use cursive, but usually goes with regular print."

By following the instructional plan, all districts are aligned. This way, local school boards can certify to the state that students meet the handwriting requirements each year.

Jacqueline Campbell, executive director for instructional support at MPS, said students by third grade should be able to "write legibly and with 80 percent accuracy."

Like those in Montgomery, schools in Autauga County will have little to change, said superintendent Spence Agee.

"We already have an elementary guideline in place that sets the standards for cursive handwriting," Agee said. "By the end of kindergarten, students should be able to write all their letters in lower case in cursive and by third grade they should be able to write legibly in cursive."

The only addition will be a rubric to evaluate student's cursive writing, which is still being developed.

Attempts to reach Elmore County Superintendent Andre Harrison were unsuccessful Wednesday.