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Massachusetts Standards

Massachusetts 7th Grade ELA Standards

All 41 Massachusetts English language arts standards for 7th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

41 standards

Reading Standards for Literature

9 standards
RL.7.1
Support your analysis of a story's direct statements and your inferences with several pieces of quoted or paraphrased evidence.
RL.7.2
Identify a theme or central idea of a text, analyze how it develops from start to finish, and write an objective summary.
RL.7.3
Analyze how parts of a story, poem, or play affect each other, like how the setting shapes the characters or the plot.
RL.7.4
Work out figurative and connotative meanings, and analyze how word choices and repeated images shape meaning, tone, and mood in a literary text.
RL.7.5
Analyze how a literary work's structure adds to its meaning or style, like repetition in an epic, a flashback in a novel, or a soliloquy in a play.
RL.7.6
Explain how an author builds the differing points of view of two or more characters or narrators and plays them against each other.
Common Core RL.7.6
RL.7.7
Compare and contrast a written story, play, or poem with an audio, film, stage, or multimedia version of it.
RL.7.9
Set a historical novel or story beside a factual account of the same time or person, and show where the fiction keeps the history and where it changes it.
Common Core RL.7.9
RL.7.10
Read grade 7 level literature or harder independently and with strong understanding, choosing works across genres, cultures, and perspectives.

Reading Standards for Informational Text

10 standards
RI.7.1
Back up your analysis of a nonfiction text's direct statements and your inferences with several pieces of evidence, quoted or paraphrased.
RI.7.2
Identify the central idea or ideas of a nonfiction text, analyze how they develop throughout, and summarize it objectively.
RI.7.3
Explain how the people, events and ideas in a nonfiction text act on one another, like how a new idea changed what a leader did or how one person shifted an event.
Common Core RI.7.3
RI.7.4
Work out figurative, connotative, and technical meanings in nonfiction, and analyze how one specific word choice affects meaning and tone.
RI.7.5
Analyze how an author structures a text, including how major sections and features like headings fit the whole and develop its ideas.
RI.7.6
Find an author's stance or purpose in a nonfiction text and explain how the author sets that position apart from what other people think.
Common Core RI.7.6
RI.7.7
Compare a written text with its audio, video, or multimedia version, analyzing how each medium presents the subject, like how a speech's delivery changes its impact.
RI.7.8
Follow an author's argument claim by claim and judge whether the reasoning makes sense and whether the evidence is on point and enough to support each claim.
Common Core RI.7.8
RI.7.9
Compare two or more authors on the same topic and show how each stresses different evidence or reads the same facts differently.
Common Core RI.7.9
RI.7.10
Read grade 7 level literary nonfiction or harder on your own with solid understanding, like memoirs, biographies, and essays from varied cultures and viewpoints.

Writing Standards

10 standards
W.7.1
Write arguments, like essays or advocacy speeches, that state a claim, address opposing claims, use logical reasons and credible sources, and conclude.
W.7.2
Write informative essays, reports, or feature articles that preview the topic, organize facts and examples in sections, use transitions and precise terms, and conclude.
W.7.3
Write narratives with a clear point of view, ordered events, dialogue, pacing, and figurative and sensory language that sets a mood, ending with a reflection.
W.7.4
Match how a piece of writing is developed, organized and styled to its task, its purpose and the people who will read it.
Common Core W.6.4
W.7.5
Improve writing by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or starting fresh, checking how well it suits its purpose and audience, with correct conventions and apt words.
W.7.6
Use technology and online platforms to publish writing, link to and cite sources, and work together with others.
W.7.7
Do short and longer research projects to answer a question, using several sources and coming up with new focused questions for further study.
W.7.8
Research with effective search terms, judge each source's credibility and accuracy, and quote or paraphrase without plagiarizing, using a standard citation format.
W.7.9
Draw on evidence from stories or nonfiction texts to back up written analysis, interpretation, reflection, and research, using grade 7 reading skills.
W.7.10
Write regularly, from a report built over several days to a journal entry finished in one class, for different subjects, purposes and readers.
Common Core W.3.10

Speaking and Listening Standards

6 standards
SL.7.1
Take part in one-on-one, group, and teacher-led discussions on grade 7 topics, coming prepared, citing evidence, asking follow-up questions, and revising views when warranted.
SL.7.2
Pick out the main ideas and supporting details in a chart, podcast, video or speech, and explain how they shed light on the topic or text the class is studying.
Common Core SL.7.2
SL.7.3
Outline a speaker's argument and each claim in it, then judge whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is both on point and enough to prove the claim.
Common Core SL.7.3
SL.7.4
Present claims and findings in a focused, coherent way, stressing key points with facts and examples and using fitting words, eye contact, volume, and pronunciation.
SL.7.5
Use slides, charts, images or short clips in a presentation to make your claims and findings clearer and to drive home the most important points.
Common Core SL.7.5
SL.7.6
Adapt your speaking to different situations and tasks, showing a strong command of formal English when it is called for.

Language Standards

6 standards
L.7.1
Use correct grammar, like using verb tenses precisely, fixing vague pronouns and pronoun shifts, and moving phrases or clauses to vary sentences or change emphasis.
L.7.2
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the word I, name the period and question mark, and spell simple words the way they sound, like kat for cat.
Common Core L.K.2
L.7.3
Notice the difference between formal and casual English, like Good morning, Mrs. Lee versus Hey, and choose which fits the moment.
Common Core L.2.3
L.7.4
Work out an unfamiliar 7th-grade word from its sentence, from Latin roots like bell in belligerent and rebel, or from a dictionary, then confirm the meaning.
Common Core L.7.4
L.7.5
Explain a nonliteral phrase like take steps, name someone who is friendly to link a word to real life, and rank knew, believed and suspected by how sure they are.
Common Core L.3.5
L.7.6
Learn and accurately use grade 7 academic and subject words, researching unfamiliar words on your own to grow your vocabulary.

The official Massachusetts documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Massachusetts's standards, not the official wording, which Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.