Committee hears plan to reintroduce weekly cursive instruction for grades 3–5

At its Aug. 18 Committee of the Whole meeting, the district heard a presentation outlining a plan to reintroduce cursive instruction for elementary students in grades 3 through 5. Mrs. Donato, the presenter, said the lessons will be taught weekly during library sessions and that Toni Wimmer, identified in the presentation as the elementary librarian, will lead the instruction.

"Cursive writing is going to be taught weekly to students in grades 3, 4, and 5 during library," Mrs. Donato said, adding that Wimmer will also continue to teach keyboarding and digital citizenship. Donato told the committee the goal is for students to be able to write and read cursive well enough to sign their first and last names and apply the skill to words and simple sentences.

The plan lays out a grade-by-grade sequence: third grade will focus on lowercase letters and being able to write students' first and last names; fourth grade will add uppercase-letter instruction; and fifth grade will emphasize composing words, sentences and paragraphs in cursive. Donato described formative checks and two types of classroom writing assessments that will provide evidence of student learning.

Committee members asked about how the change would interact with state testing. Donato said state assessments are moving online and emphasized that keyboarding instruction is already part of the library curriculum: "PDE is moving everything online starting in the 25-26 school year," she said.

A staff member told the committee that the cursive curriculum will be finalized by Donato's team and presented to the full board for official approval at the Sept. 2 meeting. No formal vote or policy action occurred during the Committee of the Whole; the presentation was informational and procedural next steps were announced.

The committee adjourned at 7:17 p.m.; the regular board meeting was scheduled to begin about 13 minutes later.