This was just discussed at my daughter's fifth grade back-to-school night.

The teachers stated the students will be required to do practically all graded work in cursive.

They quoted a study in which students who used cursive on the SAT, on average, received higher grades.

Googling for supporting details identified the follow:

"Essays written in cursive received a slightly higher score (7.2 for cursive, compared to 7.0 for those printed)."

source: http://www.collegeboard.com/press/releases/150054.html

An explanation the teachers suggested for the higher cursive average scores was that perhaps the cursive handwriting was less disruptive means to capture to a stream of thought.

I offer this as someone who's use of cursive is almost exclusively limited to my signature. Between my printing handwriting style and keyboard, I make no other use of cursive.