CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.5
The Standard
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6—12
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan and improve writing with a clear purpose and audience in mind. They decide whether to reorganize, add or cut support, rewrite, or try a different approach, then edit errors.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can identify the change that will most improve a draft and make a meaningful revision. They can explain how the change fits the purpose and audience, then edit for correctness.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often treat revision as fixing spelling and punctuation only. They may add more information without checking relevance or keep a weak structure because they already wrote it.
How to Assess It
- For an exit ticket, have students revise one paragraph from their draft for a named audience. They underline the largest change and explain why it improved the piece.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Print a draft, cut each paragraph into sentence strips, then have students reorder, remove, and replace sentences to sharpen the main point.
Compare two revisions of one paragraph and write which better serves the named audience, citing two specific choices.
Use revision triage cards: teams rank four draft problems, choose the first fix, and explain why it matters most.
Turn a technical report paragraph into a public safety notice, changing detail, tone, and organization for local residents.
Free download
Printable WHST.11-12.5 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.5, 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 Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects progression map.
Before This Standard
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