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Common Core ELA3rd GradeReading: Informational

RI.3.9: Compare Two Texts on the Same Topic

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.9 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 42 3rd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.3.9 Means in Plain English

Third graders read two texts on one topic and sort what they find: the big points both share, the details only one gives, and where they differ. Two pieces on Jackie Robinson share a subject, but one covers his first season and the other how baseball honors him now.

Second graders (RI.2.9) compared only the most important points of two texts. Third grade adds the key details behind those points. Fourth grade (RI.4.9) goes past comparing: students combine information from both texts to write or speak about the topic knowledgeably.

RI.3.9 I Can Statements

  • I can find the most important point of each text.
  • I can tell which details both texts share.
  • I can explain how two texts on one topic differ.

RI.3.9 Worked Example

Both texts are about the same man and even the same date, but each puts a different point first, and the weak answer stops at the shared topic.

Read the Story
Text A, from a book about baseball history: On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson ran onto the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball, which had kept Black players out for decades.Text A: Some fans and players shouted insults at him, but he kept his temper and let his playing answer them. At the end of the season, he won baseball’s first Rookie of the Year award.Text B, from a sports magazine: Every year on April 15, every player in Major League Baseball wears the number 42. It was Jackie Robinson’s number, and the day is called Jackie Robinson Day.Text B: In 1997, baseball retired number 42 for every team, so no player can choose it as their own number again. Robinson helped open the game to Black players, and the league remembers the day he first took the field.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Compare the two texts. What is the most important point of each, which key details do they share, and how are they different?
Not Yet“Both texts are about Jackie Robinson. Text A has more facts.”It names the shared topic, which the question already gave, and a vague difference. It never says what each text is mostly about or which details they share.
Meets the Standard“Text A is mostly about Robinson’s first season: on April 15, 1947, he became the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball, kept his temper through insults and won the first Rookie of the Year award. Text B is mostly about how baseball honors him now, with number 42 and Jackie Robinson Day. Both say he opened the game to Black players, and both point to April 15. Only Text B explains what the number 42 means.”It states each text’s most important point, names two shared details even though the texts word them differently, and ends with a difference specific enough to check.
Question Stems to Use
What is the most important point of Text A? Of Text B?Which details do both texts give?What does one text tell you that the other leaves out?Why might a history book and a sports magazine focus on different things?Which text would you use for a report on his first season? Why?

Common Mistakes with RI.3.9

Comparing topics, not points

“They’re both about Jackie Robinson.”

Try this: Have students write each text’s most important point as one sentence first, then compare those two sentences, not the topic.

Counting facts

“Text A is better because it has more facts.”

Try this: Ask what each text teaches instead of how much it says, and steer students toward the purpose behind each one.

Missing a detail worded differently

“Only Text A says he was the first Black player.”

Try this: Teach students to match ideas, not exact words: put a sticky note on each shared detail, even when the two texts word it differently.

Where RI.3.9 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.2.9Compare and contrast the most important points of two texts on the same topic.
AlongsideRL.3.9Compare the themes, settings and plots of stories by one author about the same characters.W.3.8Take brief notes from print and digital sources and sort them into given categories.
Comes NextRI.4.9Combine information from two texts on the same topic to write or speak about it knowledgeably.

Practice RI.3.9

Quick Check

  1. What is the most important point of Text A?
  2. Name one key detail that appears in both texts.
  3. What does Text B tell you that Text A does not?

RI.3.9: Other Names

RI.3.9CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.9

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.