Keyboard Training in Elementary Schools Moving Forward

On October 15, 2013 an article, For elementary students, keyboards trump pencils, appeared in The Hartford (CT) Courant newspaper. (The article originally appeared in The Washington Post and was authored by Lyndsey Layton.) Layton describes how a major shift is taking place in elementary school education: the teaching of keyboarding starting as early as kindergarten. This impetus resulted from the future implementation of standardized tests linked to the Common Core scheduled for 2014-15. These exams “... will require students to be able to manipulate a mouse, click, drag, and type answers on a keyboard; and, starting in third grade, write an outline.” Fourteen states have agreed to pilot a study to help “iron out the wrinkles” of the plan. Included is a creative writing exercise where students are expected to type a story based on experience or from their imagination. Obviously, students taking the Common Core exams who have mastered keyboarding will be at a decided advantage.
Some critics will maintain that elementary grade children are too young to master typing. I totally disagree. Failure to teach keyboarding at an early age will result in students learning inefficient skills where eyes are fixated on the keyboard and less on the screen. This causes more frequent eye shifts, typing errors and reduced speed. In 1993, I was placed in charge of a computer program in a renovated elementary school in Fairfield, CT. Third grade students would come to the computer lab each school day and receive keyboard training for about one half hour before beginning their regular instruction. The program was successful with the large majority of students mastering touch typing.
It is unfortunate that educators have to wait for something to be mandated from some external authority before it is put into practice. Many K-12 educators were too slow in recognizing the importance of the role computers would play in everyday life. Yes, there were exceptions; in the early 1980s some educators were brave enough to request placing computers in classrooms. Today, the new crop of teachers are decidedly more computer literate than those they replace.