Kentucky Reading and Writing RI.8.1

ELA8th GradeReading Informational Text

The Standard

Cite relevant textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing (2025) · Key Ideas and Details

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students tell the difference between a fact an article states and an idea they work out from clues. They choose specific lines to support each answer and explain why those lines fit.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can point to a sentence that answers a direct question. For an inference, they use details from the article and explain how those details lead to their conclusion.
Common Misconceptions: Students may present a reasonable guess as something the author stated. They may also pick a sentence on the right topic that does not support their answer, or copy a quote without explaining it.
How to Assess It: Give students a short article about school start times and sleep. Ask: “State one fact and one inference about sleep. Cite a line for each, and explain your inference.”

Lesson moves

Give pairs a printed article on school start times; have them highlight one stated fact and two clues supporting an inference.
Ask students: “What does the article say about sleep, and what does it suggest about students’ mornings? Which lines support your answers?”
Play Evidence Match: give teams three claims and six sentences from the article; they choose the best support and explain why another sentence fails.
Hand out a local library event flyer; students infer its intended audience and cite two details from the flyer.

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