Handwriting Standards

It's a small section on the ELA literacy competencies. When you are planning a lesson you probably don't think about that handwriting competency too much. For those students who have an easy time with handwriting and graphomotor skills the standard can be easily mastered. Yet, for those students who struggle writing letters legibly and writing uppercase and lowercase letters can be a real struggle.

Handwriting Without Tears has provided a list of extensive grade level standards for handwriting that help the teacher to,

• "Assess student proficiency
• Determine the need for additional instruction or remediation
• Monitor progress
• Help students achieve academic goals".

These standards can help us as educators truly understand where our students are in terms of graphomotor development and if they are on grade level or not. Understanding the student's grade level appropriateness and where the handwriting problem might lie can further help us develop intervention plans for the the students.