NEW YORK - Cursive writing is looping back into style in schools across the country after a generation of students raised on keyboarding, texting and printing out letters longhand.

Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schools, the latest of 14 states to require cursive. And last fall, the 1.1 million-student New York City school system encouraged teaching cursive to students in the third grade.

Penmanship proponents contend writing words in a single line is just a faster way of taking notes. Others say students should be able to understand cursive documents. And research suggests cursive helps students master spelling and sentence construction because they don't have to think as much about forming letters.