Looks like cursive is making a comeback in Iowa classrooms. Third graders are heading into their second year of mandatory cursive lessons, thanks to a rule change from the state education board last summer.
Remember when Common Core came in back in 2010 and basically removed cursive? Yeah, that’s when a lot of kids stopped learning how to read or write cursive.
Beth Fisher, a librarian in Iowa City, says this is exactly why cursive still matters. “It lets you go back and read the primary source document to figure out if it was taken out of context or if it was translated correctly,” she explained. Translation: if you can’t read the original writing, you’re just trusting someone else’s version of history.
So now, Iowa students start cursive in second grade and are expected to master it by third. To help, the Iowa Reading Research Center at the University of Iowa built a free tool with a very clunky name CLIFTER (short for Cursive Letter Identification and Formation for Transcription and Early Reading). It’s basically an online kit with videos and printable worksheets to give teachers and parents some backup.
But with Wriey, your kids don’t have to wait for school lessons to learn cursive. Writey has its own Cursive Journey, where kids learn step by step through an interactive adventure. Think of it like handwriting practice, but wrapped in a story that actually feels exciting.
Instead of drills that feel like homework, kids move through challenges, unlock progress, and build confidence along the way. It keeps them engaged, makes learning feel more like play, and gives them the foundation they need while cursive is still fresh and fun.
With Writey’s Cursive Journey, kids get to explore cursive as a skill and an adventure, which might be the best way to make those loops and swirls stick for good.
Shawn Datchuk, who runs the research center, says it’s not just about nice penmanship. Iowa’s test scores show a quarter to a third of kids are struggling with literacy. That’s after pandemic lows, and it matches the nationwide slump in English scores.
“What seems to be beneficial is that if we have handwriting instruction, if we teach kids how to form letters, the letter names, the letter sounds, that can contribute to their reading development as well,” Datchuk said.
So yes, cursive back, but it’s less about nostalgia and more about making sure kids can actually read, write, and maybe even decode the Constitution without needing subtitles.