Skip to Page Content

Handwriting Standards

Print the complete Handwriting Standards PDF document.

In today's technology-driven world, handwriting remains the primary tool of communication and knowledge assessment in the classroom (particularly for elementary-aged students). The recent addition of handwritten components to many state standardized assessments and of a handwritten essay to the College Board SAT in 2005 further emphasize the importance of handwriting. Furthermore, good handwriting is important long after graduation.

Handwriting standards provide guidance for assessing students' handwriting skills at every level--from readiness, to print and cursive.Yet educational guidelines often are limited to one standard--“produces legible handwriting”--in state English/language arts standards.They have not provided guidance for what a student should know by each grade level, or how to remediate knowledge gaps.

The result? Illegible handwriting, poor hand dexterity and coordination, and struggling students who can't perform to grade level on tests and on written assignments. Another result is that occupational therapist referrals for poor handwriting have soared, as have school costs for remediation. The cost of lost confidence and poor performance for students has been immeasurable. 

Seeing the need for a more specific analysis of skills, a team of occupational therapists and educators has developed this set of Handwriting Standards. We hope it will serve as an example to educators and curriculum decision-makers and bring increased attention to this crucial, yet often overlooked, area of education.

In this section, you will find handwriting standards for each grade level from kindergarten through grade 4+. The Handwriting Standards provide: 

  • Expectations for student handwriting performance
  • A framework for evaluationg classroom instruction approaches
  • Tools for educating others about handwriting standards for elementary education

STANDARDS BY GRADE LEVEL

Kindergarten

Readiness and Printing Skills

Grade One

Physical and Printing Skills

Grade Two

Physical and Printing Skills

Grade Three

Pre-Cursive and Cursive Skills

Fourth Grade

Pre-Cursive and Cursive Skills