IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Third graders in Iowa will begin their second year of cursive handwriting education this school year due to a June 2024 change to the state education board’s requirements.

In 2010, the introduction of Common Core curriculum standards ended required cursive handwriting education in many states, including Iowa.

For some children, that meant an end to being able to read birthday cards from grandparents, writing their own signature and understanding historical documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

One Iowa City librarian said knowing cursive is instrumental in understanding and interacting with history.

“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 correc

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