CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2
The Standard
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 details; 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 identify the writer’s main point and track how it develops from beginning to end. They connect specific details to that development and write a neutral summary.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students state the main idea as a complete, accurate sentence. They explain how key details introduce, clarify, or refine it, then summarize the text without personal reactions or minor information.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may choose a broad topic, such as climate change, instead of stating the writer’s main point about it. They may list details without explaining how those details shape the idea, or include opinions and minor facts in the summary.
How to Assess It
- Give students a one-page article and ask them to state its main idea, cite two details that develop it, and write a three-sentence objective summary.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Cut an article into sections, then have pairs sequence the sections and label how each one adds to the main idea.
Ask students to write: Which detail most changes or sharpens the writer’s main point, and why?
Give teams detail cards to sort into develops the main idea, repeats information, or adds a minor fact.
Compare a news report with its headline and social media caption, then identify what each version keeps, changes, or leaves out.
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Printable RI.9-10.2 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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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.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.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refine...
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