Quality, the "degree of excellence" of something. Look, we aren't out here to make everyone have perfect penmanship! Our goal is quality handwriting that is legible, comfortable, and efficient. While we do use grade expectations during assessments to measure the accuracy of student's handwriting compared to others their age, we truly focus on the child progressing while comparing their current writing to their own past performance.
Let's break down what "quality" handwriting is:
-Does the child know letters and numbers from MEMORY?
-Does the child write letters with correct orientation or are their reversals?
-Are the letters and numbers placed on the line accurately?
-Is the size of the letter or number appropriate for their age?
-Does the child start the letter correctly leading to accurate sequencing of letter strokes?
-Does the child space their letters and words appropriately?
Breaking down the child's handwriting into these components allows us to see their strengths as well as where the breakdown is occurring impacting their quality of writing. Of course, there are MANY other factors that impact quality (fine motor skills, visual skills, attention, core strength, and so on!). But specifically looking at the written output, we can learn a lot about the handwriting and where to remediate to bring about the best quality work for that child!