Keyboarding Guidelines

Guiding Principles
Technology skills are best acquired when instruction and practice are integrated with meaningful
curricular activities. There are, however, some basic skills that initially merit separate attention
and practice. Use of the computer keyboard is one of those skills.

To attain a functional level of keyboard use and to avoid forming habits that become extremely
difficult to break, students should be exposed to correct keyboarding techniques at an early age.
Since the acquisition of skill is an ongoing process, instruction should be offered at every grade
level. Students should consistently improve speed and accuracy by applying keyboarding skills
in all subject areas.

Opportunities for regular practice should be provided to allow students to attain and maintain
acceptable speed and accuracy levels. Practice is most effective when sessions are brief but
frequent. Four sessions per week of 20 minutes each, for example, have proven much more
effective than two sessions of 45 minutes each. Frequent practice periods in a concentrated
number of weeks (usually 4-6 weeks) have proven more effective than spreading practice over
several months. Teachers and administrators are encouraged to consider these results when
allocating equipment and computer time.

Students gain keyboarding skills much more effectively when the teacher is actively engaged in
delivering instruction and monitoring progress. Keyboarding software is best used for assessing
speed and accuracy, and for providing extra practice, not for teaching students to keyboard.
Licenses for the program titled All the Right Type have been purchased for Irving ISD students in
grades K-8. For help in obtaining the software, installing it on computers, or using it with
students, check with the Campus Technician or Instructional Technology Specialist.

It is not necessary to practice keyboarding on a computer with a fast processor, a large amount of
memory, and multimedia capabilities. Keyboarding practice is a great use of older computers or
of specialized hardware with limited operating systems such as DreamWriters, AlphaSmarts, or
Emates.

Students should maintain correct posture when at the computer. Incorrect position of wrists,
especially, may result in repetitive-use injuries.

The skills and levels of the following grade level expectations were derived from research
suggesting that keyboarding speed should be slightly higher than handwriting speed at a given
grade level, and from the Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
(TEKS).
 Keyboarding
Guidelines

Grade Level Expectations

Kindergarten - Grade 2
• No speed requirements
• Attention to correct hand and body positions, location of keys, smooth and rhythmic
keystroke patterns as grade-level appropriate
• Students operate alphabetic, numeric, punctuation, and symbol keys as grade-level
appropriate
• Students produce documents at the keyboard, proofread, and correct errors as grade-
level appropriate
• Students use language skills including capitalization, punctuation, and spelling as
grade-level appropriate

Grade 3
Keyboarding practice in a structured program should begin at grade 3.
• 15 Words per Minute (WPM) at 90-100% accuracy
• Frequent practice for short periods of time over a concentrated number of weeks (i.e.,
20 minutes per day, 4 days per week for 6 weeks)
• Students use proper keyboarding techniques such as correct hand and body positions
and smooth and rhythmic keystroke patterns
• Students demonstrate touch keyboarding techniques for operating the alphabetic,
numeric, punctuation, and symbol keys as grade-level appropriate
• Students produce documents at the keyboard, proofread, and correct errors
• Students use language skills including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, word
division, and use of numbers and symbols as grade-level appropriate

Grade 4
• 20 WPM at 90-100% accuracy
• Frequent practice for short periods of time over a concentrated number of weeks (i.e.,
20 minutes per day, 4 days per week for 5 weeks)
• Students use proper keyboarding techniques such as correct hand and body positions
and smooth and rhythmic keystroke patterns
• Students demonstrate touch keyboarding techniques for operating the alphabetic,
numeric, punctuation, and symbol keys as grade-level appropriate
• Students produce documents at the keyboard, proofread, and correct errors
• Students use language skills including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, word
division, and use of numbers and symbols as grade-level appropriate
 Keyboarding
Guidelines

Grade 5
• 25 WPM at 90-100% accuracy
• Frequent practice for short periods of time over a concentrated number of weeks (i.e.,
20 minutes per day, 4 days per week for 4 weeks)
• Students use proper keyboarding techniques such as correct hand and body positions
and smooth and rhythmic keystroke patterns
• Students demonstrate touch keyboarding techniques for operating the alphabetic,
numeric, punctuation, and symbol keys as grade-level appropriate
• Students produce documents at the keyboard, proofread, and correct errors
• Students use language skills including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, word
division, and use of numbers and symbols as grade-level appropriate

Grades 6 - 8
• 5 WPM per grade level at 90-100% accuracy (grade 6 = 30 WPM, grade 7 = 35
WPM, grade 8 = 40 WPM)
• Frequent practice for short periods of time over a concentrated number of weeks
• Demonstrate keyboarding proficiency in technique and posture while building speed
• Use digital keyboarding standards for data input such as one space after punctuation,
the use of em/en dashes, and smart quotation marks
• Plan, create, and edit documents created with a word processor
• Integrate the use of the word processor into multiple curricular areas

Grades 9 - 12
• 5 WPM per grade level at 90-100% accuracy (grade 9 = 45 WPM, grade 10 = 50
WPM, grade 11 = 55 WPM, grade 12 = 60 WPM)
• Frequent practice for short periods of time over a concentrated number of weeks
• Demonstrate keyboarding proficiency in technique and posture while building speed
• Use digital keyboarding standards in word processing such as one space after
punctuation, the use of em/en dashes, and smart quotation marks
• Plan, create, and edit documents created with a word processor
• Integrate the use of the word processor into multiple curricular areas

Evaluation
Students should be made aware of the speed and accuracy goals for their grade level. The
performance of students should be verified at least once per year through the administration of a
test such as the tests available in All the Right Type.

When a student obtains the targeted proficiency level, he/she should be allowed to practice
keyboarding in an application context. If a student does not attain the grade level goal within the
suggested number of weeks, opportunities for further practice should be provided to the student.