Virginia SOL 11.RI.3.A
The Standard
Analyze information within and between paired passages for similar and conflicting ideas and how authors reach similar or different conclusions.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Integration of Concepts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read two informational texts about the same issue and identify shared ideas, conflicts, evidence, and conclusions. They explain how each author’s evidence and reasoning produce similar or different conclusions.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students accurately compare claims, evidence, assumptions, and conclusions across two texts. They distinguish a true conflict from a difference in emphasis and support their analysis with precise details from both passages.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may compare topics instead of ideas, or label claims as conflicting simply because the wording differs. They may state each conclusion without tracing the evidence and reasoning, or use details from only one passage.
How to Assess It
- Give students two short editorials on later school start times. Ask them to identify one shared or conflicting idea and explain how each author’s evidence leads to a conclusion.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Cut apart claim, evidence, and conclusion cards from two articles, then have students sort them by author and connect each argument with string.
After reading two articles on school phone rules, ask: Where do the authors agree, and what causes their conclusions to differ?
Run a comparison-grid relay where teams add one accurate similarity, conflict, evidence choice, or reasoning step before passing the marker.
Compare two local news reports about the same event, then identify how source choices shape each report’s conclusion.
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Related Standards
- 10.RI.3.B
Analyze multiple texts addressing the same topic to determine how authors reach similar or different conclusions.
- 6.RI.3.B
Compare and contrast one author’s presentation of ideas or events with another’s, identifying where the texts agree or disagree.
- 8.RI.3.B
Compare and contrast how two or more authors present conflicting information on the same topic by assessing where the texts disagree in reasoning and evidence.
- 7.RI.3.A
Analyze ideas within and between selections including how specific sentences, paragraphs, or sections contribute to the development and meaning of ideas.
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