Now, we’d be the first to talk at length about the innate value of handwriting, particularly handwritten marketing, but here is a new angle. Steve Graham at Vanderbilt University, in a new study to be published this month claims that “a majority of primary-school teachers believe that students with fluent handwriting produced written assignments that were superior in quantity and quality and resulted in higher grades.” There is more in this Newsweek article on how Good Penmanship is more than a Quaint Skill.

Handwriting is important because research shows that when children are taught how to do it, they are also being taught how to learn and how to express themselves …

All this matters, educators say, because evidence is growing that handwriting fluency is a fundamental building block of learning. Emily Knapton, director of program development at Handwriting Without Tears, believes that “when kids struggle with handwriting, it filters into all their academics. Spelling becomes a problem; math becomes a problem because they reverse their numbers. All of these subjects would be much easier for these kids to learn if handwriting was an automatic process.” That concern, in part, prompted the addition of a written essay to the SAT, which is graded for content, though not legibility. “If you put something like a writing test on the SAT, children’s skill level will begin to be addressed,” says Ed Hardin, a senior content specialist at the College Board. The trickle-down effect to middle schools should eventually reach third grade, where the trouble so often begins.