Iowa City, Iowa – Studies find many elementary school teachers have had little-to-no preparation in how to effectively teach handwriting, and a University of Iowa special education professor has developed a free tool to help teachers everywhere teach cursive. Professor Shawn Datchuk is director of the U of I-based Iowa Reading Research Center and developed what’s called CLIFTER, the Curriculum-Based Letter Instruction for Fluency and Efficiency with Repetition.
There are also worksheets that can be downloaded and customized for any curriculum. Datchuk is introducing CLIFTER this week as the center hosts the annual Science of Reading Summit in Cedar Rapids.
About a decade ago, schools in Iowa and in many other states shifted away from teaching cursive, yet in recent years, some have returned. Cursive instruction was reintroduced to Iowa’s Academic Standards in 2024, and as of this year, only around half of U.S. states require some instruction in the skill. Datchuk says it can be easy to think of handwriting as antiquated and unimportant, but he assures that’s not the case.
While much of the modern world uses keyboards to communicate, he says handwriting is still vital, especially for young students who are just learning the art. Datchuk says he’s gratified to see schools swing back to teaching cursive.
He says CLIFTER gives students the building blocks they need to become proficient writers — and readers.
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