CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8
The Standard
Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6—12
What This Standard Means
Students need to read a historical or social studies text and identify the author’s main claim, the assumptions behind it, and the evidence used to support it. Then they check that argument against other sources, not just decide if it “sounds right.”
Mastery looks like a student saying, “This claim is partly supported by Source B, but Source C challenges the author’s cause-and-effect link.” Students often get stuck summarizing instead of evaluating, accepting statistics without checking context, or treating one conflicting detail as proof the whole argument is wrong.
Ways to Teach It
- Give students one editorial and two primary sources, then have them mark each claim as supported, challenged, or not addressed.
- Ask students to write: Which piece of evidence most weakens the author’s argument, and why?
- Use an exit ticket with one claim and two short excerpts, asking students to label corroborate or challenge and explain in one sentence.
- Connect to fact-checking a public speech by comparing one claim with a government report, news article, or historical data table.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.8
Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging concl...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.6
Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.