CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.10
The Standard
By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 9—10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 9—10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
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 read challenging essays, speeches, memoirs, biographies, and other literary nonfiction with accurate understanding. They use annotation, rereading, context clues, and reference tools, then rely less on teacher support over time.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can read a complex essay, speech, memoir, or biography and explain its central ideas, structure, evidence, and language. By grade 10, they can do this independently with texts at the upper end of the grade band.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat literary nonfiction like fiction and overlook the author’s claim, evidence, or purpose. They may also define unfamiliar words in isolation or mistake finishing the text for understanding it.
How to Assess It
- Give students a challenging one-page essay excerpt. Ask them to state the central idea, cite two supporting details, and explain one difficult sentence in their own words.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Cut a complex essay into sections, then have pairs arrange them and mark clues that reveal the author’s structure.
Ask students to write which paragraph was hardest, why it was hard, and which reading move helped them understand it.
Run a context-clue relay where teams infer bolded words, underline evidence, and compare meanings with a dictionary.
Compare a newspaper opinion column with a public speech on the same issue, noting differences in purpose, evidence, tone, and audience.
Free download
Printable RI.9-10.10 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.10, 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
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.10
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6—8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.10
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.10
By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9—10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffold...
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.