An unlikely comeback is happening in city classrooms: educators are being encouraged to teach cursive writing again, something many schools haven't done for years. NY1 Education Reporter, Lindsey Christ, explains.

Students in city public schools spend an increasing amount of time learning with computers, tablets, and even smart phones.

But at schools like P.S. 166 in Queens, an old fashioned skill is being reintroduced: cursive writing.

The campaign for cursive comes from the top, from Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.

"There is a lot more research that shows motor coordination does work," Fariña said.

Indeed: more and more studies show that teaching cursive, also known as script, improves speed and legibility, and also the quality of what students write.

It helps with spelling and reading, and researchers say writing beats typing when it comes to memory and comprehension, spurring some college professors to go back to requiring that notes be taken by hand. 

In schools with a diverse student body, there's another benefit:

"A lot of our students learn a second or third language here, so they're learning a different alphabet, so helping them with their cursive writing helps them learn English language as well," P.S. 166 Principal Jessica Geller said.

This school year, the city's education department issued a handbook on teaching cursive.

Superintendents are encouraging principals to reincorporate the instruction into the curriculum, starting in third grade.

Some schools are also investing in training for teachers, like a class in Midtown teaching script through song, seen in the video above.

Some teachers never learned cursive themselves.

"A new teacher may have come through schooling when the value of cursive or handwritten work was seen to have been going out with the keyboard," said Terri Foster, an occupational therapist for Handwriting Without Tears.

"Well, that didn't happen, so now it's going to be important to help train the teachers," Foster added.

Another concern: students who can't read cursive can't understand anything written in cursive — old documents, and new.

"On a personal level, my grandson said 'Abuela, I can't read your letters,'" Fariña recalled.

Fariña also calls learning cursive a rite of passage. At P.S. 166, students agree. 

"It makes me feel like I know how to write different ways, and it makes me feel proud of myself," one student said.