North Carolina Standards
North Carolina Grades 11–12 ELA Standards
All 36 North Carolina English language arts standards for grades 11–12, 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 standardsRL.11-12.1
Quote the strongest lines from a novel, play or poem to back a reading of it, including a point it only implies, and say where the text leaves a question open.
RL.11-12.2
Identify two or more themes, trace how they develop and combine across the text into a rich, complex story, and write an objective summary of it.
RL.11-12.3
Analyze the effect of an author's choices in developing and connecting a story's or play's elements, like where it is set or how the characters are introduced.
RL.11-12.4
Work out what words and phrases mean in literature and analyze how word choices shape meaning and tone, especially words with double meanings or fresh, striking language.
RL.11-12.5
Analyze how an author's choices in building specific parts of a text, like where to start or whether to end happily, shape its structure, meaning and effect on readers.
RL.11-12.6
Analyze texts where understanding the point of view means separating what is said outright from what is truly meant, like satire, sarcasm, irony or understatement.
RL.11-12.7
Analyze several versions of a story, play or poem, like different film or stage productions, and judge how each one interprets the original text.
RL.11-12.9
Compare how two or more works written in the same era, like two Harlem Renaissance poems, treat similar themes or topics, and analyze each author's approach.
RL.11-12.10
Read grades 11 and 12 literature independently for long periods, handling its hardest texts by grade 12, and relate each work to your own knowledge and experiences.
Reading Informational
10 standardsRI.11-12.1
Quote the strongest lines from a novel, play or poem to back a reading of it, including a point it only implies, and say where the text leaves a question open.
RI.11-12.2
Trace two or more central ideas through a nonfiction text, show how they build on one another into a complex analysis, and summarize it without opinion.
RI.11-12.3
Explain how the people, ideas and events in a complex nonfiction account interact and develop from its opening to its close.
RI.11-12.4
Figure out what words mean in nonfiction and analyze how an author builds up a key term's meaning over a text, like how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10.
RI.11-12.5
Judge whether the way an essay or argument is organized makes its points clear, convincing and engaging, and say what works and what does not.
RI.11-12.6
Identify an author's viewpoint or purpose in a strongly persuasive text, like a famous speech, and analyze how its style and content make it so powerful.
RI.11-12.7
Combine and evaluate sources in several media and formats, like data tables, images and written reports, to answer a question or solve a problem.
RI.11-12.8
Trace and judge the reasoning in major American or British advocacy texts, like The Federalist or a presidential address, including their premises, aims and arguments.
RI.11-12.9
Analyze founding American or British documents that matter to history and literature, like the Bill of Rights or the Magna Carta, for their themes, aims and rhetoric.
RI.11-12.10
Read grades 11 and 12 nonfiction on your own for long periods, reaching its most demanding texts by grade 12, and connect essays and documents to what you know.
Writing
6 standardsW.11-12.1
Argue a substantive topic or text in writing with a precise claim, a counterclaim weighed for its strengths and limits, linked sections, a formal tone and a close.
W.11-12.2
Explain a complex topic in writing, sorting ideas to show connections, adding headings or figures where they help, using precise terms, and closing on why it matters.
W.11-12.3
Write a story that opens on a problem, sets up a narrator and point of view, weaves dialogue, pacing and more than one plot line, and closes with a reflection.
W.11-12.4
Use digital tools to write, publish and keep revising solo or group work as feedback comes in, like updating an online essay with new arguments or information.
W.11-12.5
Run short and longer research projects on a question you pose or are given, narrowing or widening it as needed and weaving several sources into one account.
W.11-12.6
Search print and online sources with advanced queries, weigh each one's strengths and limits, quote them without leaning on any one, and cite in a standard format.
Speaking and Listening
5 standardsSL.11-12.1
Lead and join discussions on grades 11-12 topics, prepared with research, keeping the exchange civil, airing every position, and deciding what still needs research.
SL.11-12.2
Pull together several sources in different media to make sound decisions and solve problems, judging each one's credibility and accuracy and spotting conflicting data.
SL.11-12.3
Judge a speaker's stance, premises, evidence and rhetoric, from how the ideas link up to word choice, emphasis and tone.
SL.11-12.4
Present findings with a clear and distinct perspective, address opposing views, and fit the organization, substance and style to formal and informal occasions alike.
SL.11-12.5
Use digital media strategically in presentations, like live data or video clips, to deepen understanding of your findings, reasoning and evidence and hold interest.
Language
6 standardsL.11-12.1
Use standard grammar and usage with advanced polish, like varied sentence structures, to develop a distinctive voice in writing and speech, extending earlier skills.
L.11-12.2
Apply capitals, punctuation and spelling rules with polish, using choices like semicolons and hyphenated terms to strengthen your voice and reinforce earlier skills.
L.11-12.3
Notice how language works differently in a lab report, a poem and a speech, and write and edit to a style manual such as the MLA Handbook when the task calls for one.
L.11-12.4
Figure out unknown or multiple-meaning words in grades 11 and 12 reading by flexibly using context, word parts, word relationships or references, like ambi in ambiguous.
L.11-12.5
Interpret figures of speech like hyperbole or paradox, analyze their role in grades 11 and 12 texts, and explain subtle gaps between near-synonyms like frugal and cheap.
L.11-12.6
Master academic and field-specific words needed for college and careers, like empirical or mandate, and independently grow your vocabulary when a word is key to meaning.
The official North Carolina documents
- 2017 ELA Standard Course of Study · adopted 2017 · since 2018-19, through 2026-27
- 2026 ELA Standard Course of Study · coming next · adopted January 2026 · from 2027-28
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.