North Carolina’s policy is a mix of the traditional and the modern.

“In the Common Core State Standards, ... we do have handwriting objectives in grades three through five,” said Maria Pitre-Martin, director of curriculum and instruction for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

“Students in grade three should be able to create legible documents through legible handwriting, manuscript and cursive,” she said, reading from the standard. The same applies to fourth grade, when word processing also is added.

But, “As they progress in the secondary grades, you’re going to see less emphasis on cursive writing” in favor of word-processing skills, Pitre-Martin said.

“We certainly want them to have legible handwriting,” she said, but technology is “critically important.”