For Older Students

This comes from Steve Graham, a respected professor at Vanderbilt University. He is frequently quoted in the media.

When an average paper written by a school-aged child is written less legibly (hard to read, but readable) versus more legibly, the score for the quality of the content of the paper (not handwriting but ideas) can change the paper from being at the 50th percentile (right in the middle of say 100 papers) to the 16th percentile (for the less legible paper) to the 84th percentile (for the more legible paper). The only difference between the two versions of the paper is handwriting legibility, but teachers scoring the paper for quality of ideas are influenced greatly by its legibility.