Ohio Standards
Ohio Grades 11–12 ELA Standards
All 41 Ohio English language arts standards for grades 11–12, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's document, linked at the end of this page.
41 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
Determine two or more themes in a text, analyze how they develop, interact, and build on each other, and write a thorough analysis of the text.
RL.11-12.3
Explain how an author's choices about where a story is set, how its action is ordered and how its characters are revealed shape the whole work.
RL.11-12.4
Interpret the connotative, denotative, and figurative meanings of words and analyze how an author's diction, like double meanings or vivid language, shapes tone and mood.
RL.11-12.5
Explain how choosing where a story begins or ends, or giving it a comic or tragic ending, shapes its overall structure, its meaning and its beauty.
RL.11-12.6
Analyze texts where point of view hinges on the gap between what is said and what is meant, like satire or irony, and judge how that shapes content and style.
RL.11-12.7
Compare several versions of a play, like a live staging and a film of Hamlet or an American drama, and judge how faithfully each one reads the script.
RL.11-12.9
Show knowledge of key American literature from the 1700s through the early 1900s, including how different works from one period handle similar themes or topics.
RL.11-12.10
Read complex grade 11 and 12 stories, plays, and poems, with support in grade 11 and on your own by grade 12, making personal, social, and ethical connections.
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
Determine two or more central ideas in a nonfiction text, analyze how they interact and build on each other, and write an abstract showing how they connect.
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
Work out figurative, loaded and technical meanings in nonfiction, and track how a writer sharpens a key term, as Madison does with 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
Determine an author's viewpoint or purpose in especially effective rhetoric and analyze how style and content make the text powerful, persuasive, or beautiful.
RI.11-12.7
Pull together several sources on a question, including charts, data, images and text, weigh each one, and use them to answer it or solve a problem.
RI.11-12.8
Trace and evaluate the reasoning, assumptions, and aims in landmark U.S. documents and public advocacy, like The Federalist Papers or presidential addresses.
RI.11-12.9
Analyze the themes, purposes and rhetoric of founding American documents from the 1600s to the 1800s, like the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's Second Inaugural.
RI.11-12.10
Read literary nonfiction, like essays, speeches and memoirs, at the grades 11 to college-ready level, with support in grade 11 and on your own by the end of grade 12.
Writing
10 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
Match how a piece of writing is developed, organized and styled to its task, its purpose and the people who will read it.
W.11-12.5
Refine drafts through planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or a new approach, zeroing in on what matters most for your purpose and audience, with polished conventions.
W.11-12.6
Publish writing online and keep updating it as feedback, new arguments or new information come in, on your own or with a group.
W.11-12.7
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.11-12.8
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.
W.11-12.9
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.11-12.10
Write regularly for many tasks, purposes and audiences, from a research paper drafted and revised over weeks to a response finished in a single sitting or a day or two.
Speaking and Listening
6 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
Combine information from charts, data, speeches and text to make a decision or solve a problem, judging each source's credibility and noting where the data disagree.
SL.11-12.3
Evaluate a speaker's viewpoint, reasoning, evidence, and rhetoric, judging the stance, assumptions, links between ideas, 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
Choose digital media for a presentation strategically, like a chart for data or a short audio clip, where each one makes the reasoning clearer or adds interest.
SL.11-12.6
Adapt your speech to many settings and tasks, showing strong command of formal English when needed, like in an interview or a formal presentation.
Language
6 standardsL.11-12.1
Print many letters, use everyday nouns, verbs and little words like in and on, make plurals like dogs and wishes, ask with who and where, and speak in full sentences.
L.11-12.2
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.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
Work out an unfamiliar grades 11-12 word from context, word families like conceive, conception and conceivable, or a specialized reference, then verify the guess.
L.11-12.5
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.11-12.6
Build and use the academic and subject-specific vocabulary needed for college and career reading and writing, looking up on your own any word that matters to an idea.
The official Ohio documents
- Ohio's Learning Standards: English Language Arts, revised 2026 · adopted 2026 for K-8, 2017 for 9-12 · published July 2026
- Ohio's Learning Standards: English Language Arts, 2017 · replaced · adopted February 2017 · K-8 replaced in 2026, 9-12 carried forward
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Ohio's standards, not the official wording, which Ohio Department of Education and Workforce publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.