CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.10
The Standard
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9—10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6—12
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read challenging science articles, reports, procedures, and manuals without step-by-step teacher support. They determine meaning, follow explanations, and connect written details with diagrams, data, and technical terms.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can summarize a challenging science or technical text and explain its processes, claims, and evidence. They use text features and context without needing the teacher to break down each section.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may skim headings and miss how diagrams, captions, and data support the explanation. They may copy sentences instead of summarizing. Some stop at unfamiliar terms rather than using context or word parts.
How to Assess It
- Give students a 500-word article explaining antibiotic resistance, including one diagram. Ask them to state the main explanation, cite two supporting details, and explain the diagram.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give students a printed lab procedure and simple materials, then have them complete the setup using only the text and diagrams.
Ask students to write: How does the author use evidence and text features to explain the scientific process?
Run a text feature scavenger hunt where teams locate a heading, caption, diagram, glossary term, and supporting detail, then explain each function.
Have students read a phone manual or safety data sheet and list the steps, warnings, and evidence needed to act correctly.
Free download
Printable RST.9-10.10 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.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: Science & Technical Subjects progression map.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.10
By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6—8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.10
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9—10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- 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...
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