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North Carolina Standards

North Carolina 8th Grade ELA Standards

All 36 North Carolina English language arts standards for 8th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's document, linked at the end of this page.

36 standards

Reading Literature

9 standards
RL.8.1
Quote the strongest evidence from a story or poem to back up your analysis of both what it states outright and what you can infer from it.
RL.8.2
Identify a theme and trace how it develops through a story's characters, setting and plot, then summarize the text objectively without personal opinions.
RL.8.3
Explain how one line of dialogue or one event moves the plot along, shows what a character is like, or pushes a decision.
Common Core RL.8.3
RL.8.4
Work out what words mean in literature and explain how word choices, including analogies and allusions to other works like a Greek myth, 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.
Common Core RL.8.5
RL.8.6
Analyze how a gap between what the characters know and what the reader knows creates effects like suspense or humor, as with dramatic irony.
RL.8.7
Judge how closely a film or stage version of a story follows the text, and weigh the choices the director or actors made.
Common Core RL.8.7
RL.8.9
Analyze how a modern novel or story borrows themes, plot patterns or character types from myths, folktales or religious texts and explain how it makes them new.
RL.8.10
By the end of grade 8, read novels, plays and poems at the top of the grades 6 to 8 range on your own for long periods, connecting them to your life and knowledge.

Reading Informational

10 standards
RI.8.1
Quote the strongest evidence from a nonfiction text, like an article or speech, to support your analysis of what it says directly and what it implies.
RI.8.2
Find an article's central idea, trace how the supporting ideas build it across the text, and summarize it without opinion.
Common Core RI.8.2
RI.8.3
Analyze how a nonfiction text links and separates people, ideas or events, like comparing two inventors or grouping the causes of a war.
RI.8.4
Figure out what words mean in nonfiction and explain how word choices, like an analogy or an allusion to a famous speech, affect the text's meaning and tone.
RI.8.5
Take one paragraph apart and explain the job each sentence does in building and sharpening a key idea.
Common Core RI.8.5
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.
Common Core RI.8.6
RI.8.7
Judge the strengths and weaknesses of presenting a topic or idea in different forms, like print, video or an interactive website.
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.
Common Core RI.8.8
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.
Common Core RI.8.9
RI.8.10
By the end of grade 8, read nonfiction at the top of the grades 6 to 8 range, like historical documents, on your own for long periods, tying it to what you know.

Writing

6 standards
W.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.
Common Core W.6.1
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.
Common Core W.6.2
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.
Common Core W.6.3
W.8.4
Use digital tools to write, publish and collaborate, showing clearly and efficiently how information and ideas connect, like in a linked slideshow or an infographic.
W.8.5
Run a short research project on a question, including one you came up with, using several sources and raising new focused questions along the way.
Common Core W.8.7
W.8.6
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.
Common Core W.7.8

Speaking and Listening

5 standards
SL.8.1
Come prepared to a discussion with evidence, follow the group's rules and roles, link speakers' ideas with questions, and adjust your view when the evidence warrants.
Common Core SL.8.1
SL.8.2
Analyze why information is presented in media like ads, news clips and charts, and judge the motives behind it, such as commercial, social or political aims.
SL.8.3
Break down a speaker's argument, judge whether the reasoning holds and the evidence is enough, and catch evidence that is beside the point.
Common Core SL.8.3
SL.8.4
Give a clear, focused talk that backs your key claims and findings with relevant evidence, logical reasoning and strong details, adapting your delivery to the audience.
SL.8.5
Add slides, images or video to a presentation where they make the information clearer, strengthen the evidence or add interest.
Common Core SL.8.5

Language

6 standards
L.8.1
Apply grades 6 to 8 grammar in speech and writing, like making verbs and pronouns agree, avoiding shifts in voice or mood, and using transitive and intransitive verbs.
L.8.2
Follow the grades 6 to 8 rules for capitals, punctuation and spelling, like commas or dashes around extra information, colons before a quotation, and correct spelling.
L.8.3
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.8.4
Clarify unfamiliar or multiple-meaning words in grade 8 reading by flexibly using context, word parts, related words or a dictionary, like the root cred in credible.
L.8.5
Interpret figures of speech in grade 8 reading, like irony and puns, and distinguish the shades of feeling in words with similar meanings, like stubborn and determined.
L.8.6
Gain and accurately use grade 8 academic and subject words, like hypothesis or interpret, adding to your vocabulary whenever a word is key to understanding or expression.

The official North Carolina documents

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