CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2
The Standard
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students name the main message an author builds, not just the broad topic. They trace how key details and smaller ideas introduce, refine, or support that message. They write a brief summary using only major points and no opinions.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student states a precise, text-based message and shows how it becomes clearer or more specific from beginning to end. The summary includes major ideas in a sensible order, leaves out minor examples, and adds no judgment.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often give a one-word topic instead of stating the author’s message about that topic. They may choose a memorable detail as the main point or add opinions to the summary.
How to Assess It
- Give students a four-paragraph article and this exit ticket: “State the author’s main message, identify one earlier and one later detail that develop it, and write a two-sentence neutral summary.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups paragraph strips from a short article; they sequence them and label how each paragraph builds the author’s main message.
Ask students to write: Which supporting idea most sharpens the author’s message, and what two details prove your choice?
Play Detail Draft: teams choose evidence cards for a stated main message, then reject one tempting but minor detail.
Compare a school lunch announcement with a news report; students explain each main message and produce a neutral two-sentence summary.
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Printable RI.8.2 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: Informational Text progression map.
Before This Standard
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What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and ...
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