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> -----Original Message----- > From: School Information Technology Discussion > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Hall > Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 9:20 PM > Working "up" the grades, would that put 10th graders at > 40WPM, and seniors at 50WPM? Assuming a steady increase in > proficiency? I wouldn't think you could project that proficiency curve out into the high school years, Eric. While it seems to me that the average kid is going to naturally become better coordinated and dextrous between 4th and, say, 9th grade, I wouldn't expect the same spurt in manual dexterity through the teen years. Surely, there will be those talented keyboarders who do continue to become speedier with each passing year, but I'd guess the average student is going to flatten out before senior year. Yes, increased practice will increase speed, but you will probably find that fewer than half the students will have the diligence to ever reach 50 wpm. Unless they're thumb-texting their buddies. :-) However, I wonder if the average person really needs to type more than 30 or 40 wpm. Most of us on this list spend a whole lot of time at the keyboard, but how often do we sit there typing page after page of text? Most of my typing is in short bursts. If I'm feeling calm (a rarity) and I'm just copying text as in a typing test, I can type 70 wpm. (Though at least 10 of those words will have errors; I'm not real accurate.) But I rarely find the need to type at anything like that speed. Hell, most of the time I'm just copying other people's work and pasting into my own. For instance, I didn't actually write this email; I Googled it. :-) -Vince