Virginia SOL 8.RI.3

8.RI.3 is a Standards of Learning standard. These are the knowledge and skills expectations under it.

• 8.RI.3.A

  Analyze ideas within and between selections including how specific sentences, paragraphs, sections, and text features contribute to the development and refineme...

• 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.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students trace how smaller parts of an informational text build, clarify, or change its main ideas. They compare accounts of one topic, locate disagreements, and assess each author’s reasoning and evidence.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can explain why a sentence, paragraph, section, or text feature matters to an author’s larger idea. They can pinpoint where two authors disagree and judge the reasoning and evidence each uses.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may treat any difference in wording as a conflict, even when authors make the same point. They may list evidence without judging its relevance or explain what a paragraph says without showing how it develops an idea.

04

How to Assess It

Give students two short excerpts about school phone rules. Ask them to name one disagreement, cite each author’s evidence, and explain how one paragraph develops an author’s position.

1. 01

   Cut an article into paragraph strips, then have groups arrange them and label how each paragraph develops or refines the main idea.

2. 02

   Ask students to write: Which author makes the stronger case, and which specific evidence or reasoning makes it stronger?

3. 03

   Play Evidence Match by having teams pair claim cards with supporting details, then reject details that are weak, irrelevant, or misleading.

4. 04

   Compare two news reports about a local issue and mark where their facts, explanations, or conclusions differ.

• 11.RL.3

  The 11th Grade version of this standard.

• 10.RL.3

  The 10th Grade version of this standard.

• 12.RL.3

  The 12th Grade version of this standard.

• 11.RI.3

  The 11th Grade version of this standard.