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
What This Standard Means
Students need to identify the main idea an author builds across an informational text, not just name the topic. They should track how key details, examples, statistics, headings, and claims connect back to that idea as the text develops.
Mastery looks like a student naming a clear central idea, pointing to several parts of the text that build it, and writing a fair summary without opinions or minor details. Students often get stuck by choosing a detail as the main idea, copying a sentence from the text, or adding personal reactions into the summary.
Ways to Teach It
- Give students a printed article and three highlighters for central idea clues, supporting details, and repeated words or ideas.
- Ask students to answer, "How does paragraph 4 help build the author’s main idea?" using one quoted detail.
- Use an exit ticket with a short paragraph, asking for one central idea sentence and two supporting details.
- Have students read a school lunch news article and write a five-sentence objective summary for the principal.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.2
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
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.RI.9-10.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific detai...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.2
Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their 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 ...