Mississippi Standards
Mississippi 8th Grade ELA Standards
All 41 Mississippi English language arts standards for 8th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Mississippi Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
41 standards
Reading Literature
9 standardsRL.8.1
Quote the lines from a story, play or poem that prove a point about it best, including points the text only implies.
RL.8.2
Analyze how a story's theme or central idea first appears and is refined by key details over the whole text, then summarize the text accurately.
RL.8.3
Analyze how specific lines of dialogue or events in a story push the action forward, reveal a character, or lead to a decision.
RL.8.4
Work out figurative and connotative meanings of words in a literary text and analyze how word choices, including analogies and allusions, shape meaning and tone.
RL.8.5
Compare how two or more poems or stories are built, like a sonnet beside free verse, and say what each shape adds to the meaning.
RL.8.6
Explain how a gap between what a character knows and what the reader knows, like dramatic irony, builds suspense or humor.
RL.8.7
Judge how faithfully a film or staged version of a story or play follows or changes the original, evaluating the director's or actors' choices.
RL.8.9
Analyze how myths, traditional stories or religious works like the Bible shape themes, events or character types in a modern work, and how it makes them new.
RL.8.10
By year's end, read and understand stories, plays and poems at the top of the grades 6 to 8 range independently and with skill.
Reading Informational Text
10 standardsRI.8.1
Quote the lines from a story, play or poem that prove a point about it best, including points the text only implies.
RI.8.2
Analyze how a nonfiction text's central idea appears and is developed by specific details across the whole text, and summarize it accurately.
RI.8.3
Explain how a nonfiction writer connects people, ideas or events or sets them apart, say by comparing them or sorting them into groups.
RI.8.4
Figure out figurative, connotative and technical meanings of words in nonfiction, and analyze how word choices, including analogies and allusions, affect meaning and tone.
RI.8.5
Analyze how a single paragraph is built, including how particular sentences develop and sharpen a key concept.
RI.8.6
Find the author's point of view or purpose, and explain how the author deals with evidence and viewpoints that cut against it.
RI.8.7
Weigh the pros and cons of presenting a topic in print, in a video or on a web page with mixed media.
RI.8.8
Lay out a text's argument and its claims, judge whether the reasoning holds and the evidence is enough, and spot evidence that is off topic.
RI.8.9
Compare two or more texts that disagree about the same topic and pinpoint where they differ on facts or on how to read the facts.
RI.8.10
Read literary nonfiction, like memoirs and speeches, at the top of the grades 6 to 8 level on your own by the end of the year.
Writing
10 standardsW.8.1
Write an argument with a clear claim, reasons and evidence from credible sources, linking words, a formal style and a conclusion that follows from it.
W.8.2
Write an informative piece that introduces a topic, organizes facts, definitions and examples under headings or charts where they help, and ends with a conclusion.
W.8.3
Write a true or made-up story that sets the scene, uses dialogue, pacing and sensory detail, moves clearly through time and ends with a fitting conclusion.
W.8.4
Match how a piece of writing is developed, organized and styled to its task, its purpose and the people who will read it.
W.8.5
With some help from peers and adults, strengthen writing through planning, revising, rewriting or a fresh approach, focused on how well it serves its purpose and audience.
W.8.6
Use a computer and the internet to write, publish and share work, showing how ideas connect, and to work with others on it.
W.8.7
Carry out short research projects to answer a question, including one they came up with, using several sources and raising new focused questions to explore.
W.8.8
Pick good search terms to find print and online sources, check each for accuracy and reliability, and quote or paraphrase it with a citation in a format like MLA.
W.8.9
Use evidence from stories and informational texts in writing, like details that show a character in depth or the reasons an author gives for a point.
W.8.10
Write regularly, from a report built over several days to a journal entry finished in one class, for different subjects, purposes and readers.
Speaking and Listening
6 standardsSL.8.1
Join discussions on eighth grade issues prepared with evidence, share decisions and roles, link several speakers' ideas, and qualify or defend views based on evidence.
SL.8.2
Analyze why information is presented in a chart, video or speech, and judge the social, commercial or political motive behind it.
SL.8.3
Outline a speaker's argument and claims, judge whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence relevant and sufficient, and spot evidence that does not belong.
SL.8.4
Present a claim and findings in a focused order with evidence, sound reasoning and well-chosen details, speaking clearly, loudly enough and with eye contact.
SL.8.5
Add multimedia and visual displays to presentations to make information clearer, support claims and evidence, and keep listeners interested.
SL.8.6
Shift speaking style for different audiences and tasks, using polished formal English when expected, like in a mock trial or a formal speech.
Language
6 standardsL.8.1
Use eighth grade grammar, like explaining gerunds, participles and infinitives, active and passive voice, verb moods, and fixing shifts in voice or mood.
L.8.2
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.
L.8.3
Notice the difference between formal and casual English, like Good morning, Mrs. Lee versus Hey, and choose which fits the moment.
L.8.4
Work out an unfamiliar 8th-grade word from context, from Greek and Latin roots like precede and recede, or from a dictionary, then check the guess.
L.8.5
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.
L.8.6
Learn and use grade-level academic and subject words, and look up any word that matters to understanding or expressing an idea.
The official Mississippi documents
- 2025 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for English Language Arts · adopted 2025 · required since 2025-26
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Mississippi's standards, not the official wording, which Mississippi Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.