Pennsylvania Standards
Pennsylvania Grades 11–12 ELA Standards
All 54 Pennsylvania English language arts standards for grades 11–12, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Pennsylvania Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
54 standards
Reading Informational Text
12 standardsCC.1.2.11-12.A
Identify two or more central ideas in a nonfiction text, analyze how they develop and play off each other, and write an unbiased summary of it.
CC.1.2.11-12.B
Support an analysis of nonfiction with strong, thorough evidence for what it states and for conclusions drawn from the author's stated and unstated assumptions.
CC.1.2.11-12.C
Analyze how a complex set of ideas, chain of events or particular people develop and interact from the start of a nonfiction text to its end.
CC.1.2.11-12.D
Judge how an author's perspective or goal shapes both what a nonfiction text says and how it says it.
CC.1.2.11-12.E
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.
CC.1.2.11-12.F
Judge how word choices in essays, speeches and other nonfiction shape their meaning and tone, like how a single loaded term can tilt an argument.
CC.1.2.11-12.G
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.
CC.1.2.11-12.H
Analyze influential texts, like a Supreme Court opinion or The Federalist, by examining their reasoning, starting assumptions, purposes and arguments.
CC.1.2.11-12.I
Analyze founding documents from the U.S. and around the world, like the Declaration of Independence or Magna Carta, for their themes, purposes and persuasive techniques.
CC.1.2.11-12.J
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.
CC.1.2.11-12.K
Work out unfamiliar or multiple-meaning words in grades 11-12 nonfiction, choosing among context, related forms like conceive and conceivable, or a specialist reference.
CC.1.2.11-12.L
Read and understand complex nonfiction at the grades 11-12 level, like essays, court opinions and journalism, on your own and with skill.
Reading Literature
11 standardsCC.1.3.11-12.A
Identify two or more themes in a novel, play or poem, analyze how they grow and interact over the work, and summarize it without personal bias.
CC.1.3.11-12.B
Back a reading of a novel, play or poem with strong, thorough evidence, including conclusions tied to the author's open and hidden assumptions and beliefs.
CC.1.3.11-12.C
Analyze the effect of an author's decisions about how to build and connect a story's or play's elements, like where it is set or how characters are introduced.
CC.1.3.11-12.D
Judge how a writer's viewpoint or aim shapes what a novel, play or poem contains and how it is written, like the irony in a satire.
CC.1.3.11-12.E
Judge how a literary work is built, including how its particular lines, passages and larger sections connect to one another and to the whole.
CC.1.3.11-12.F
Judge how the language of a novel, play or poem shapes meaning and tone, like how Shakespeare's double meanings deepen a scene.
CC.1.3.11-12.G
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.
CC.1.3.11-12.H
Show knowledge of foundational literature across genres and major literary periods, and explain how two works from one period handle a shared theme or topic.
CC.1.3.11-12.I
Work out unfamiliar or double-meaning words in grades 11-12 literature, like older words in a Shakespeare play, by choosing among context, word origins and dictionaries.
CC.1.3.11-12.J
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.
CC.1.3.11-12.K
Read demanding fiction at the grades 11-12 level, like classic and contemporary novels, independently and with thorough understanding.
Writing
24 standardsCC.1.4.11-12.A
Write in-depth informational essays that explore complex ideas and explain them accurately and clearly, like a research paper on a scientific debate.
CC.1.4.11-12.B
Hold an informational essay to one sharp focus, keeping its subject, purpose and intended readers clear throughout.
CC.1.4.11-12.C
Develop a topic fully with the most telling facts, extended definitions, details, quotations and examples for what readers know, adding visuals or media when useful.
CC.1.4.11-12.D
Organize complex ideas so each point builds on the last into a whole, link sections with varied transitions and sentence structures, format helpfully, and conclude.
CC.1.4.11-12.E
Make a complex topic clear with precise wording, field terms and devices like metaphor, simile or analogy, in a formal style and objective tone that suits the discipline.
CC.1.4.11-12.F
Use correct grades 11-12 grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling in essays, like hyphenating a compound modifier such as long-term plan.
CC.1.4.11-12.G
Write arguments that dig into weighty topics and defend a clear claim, like a position paper on how to fund public transit.
CC.1.4.11-12.H
Keep an argument tightly aimed at its topic, purpose and audience, and open with a precise claim that shows real knowledge of the subject.
CC.1.4.11-12.I
Separate your claim from rival ones, develop both fully and fairly with the best evidence, and weigh their strengths and limits with readers' values and biases in mind.
CC.1.4.11-12.J
Sequence claims, counterclaims, reasons and evidence logically, link the sections with transitions and varied sentence structures, and close with a fitting conclusion.
CC.1.4.11-12.K
Argue a complex issue in a formal style and objective tone fitting the field, with exact wording and specialist terms, like legal terms in a case analysis.
CC.1.4.11-12.L
Edit arguments to grades 11-12 standards for grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling, like checking a usage guide on whether to split an infinitive.
CC.1.4.11-12.M
Write narratives, true or imagined, that develop experiences or events with depth and craft, like a college application essay or a short story.
CC.1.4.11-12.N
Open a story by laying out a problem, situation or observation and why it matters, setting up one or several points of view, and introducing the narrator or characters.
CC.1.4.11-12.O
Use dialogue, description, reflection, pacing and several plotlines to develop a story, with telling details and sensory words that make scenes and characters vivid.
CC.1.4.11-12.P
Sequence events so they build on each other toward a deliberate tone and outcome, forming a coherent whole, and end by reflecting on what was experienced or resolved.
CC.1.4.11-12.Q
Refine a story's style with parallel structure, varied phrases and clauses for exact shades of meaning, and precise words and figures like metaphor, simile and analogy.
CC.1.4.11-12.R
Proofread stories to grades 11-12 standards for grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling, like telling a hyphen from a dash and using each correctly.
CC.1.4.11-12.S
Back written analysis, reflection and research with evidence from literature and nonfiction, using grades 11-12 reading skills, like tracing a theme across two plays.
CC.1.4.11-12.T
Plan, revise, edit and rewrite a history essay or lab report, or start over with a new approach, fixing first what matters most for its purpose and readers.
CC.1.4.11-12.U
Use technology and the internet to create, publish and keep revising solo or group writing as feedback, new arguments or new information arrive, like a class blog.
CC.1.4.11-12.V
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.
CC.1.4.11-12.W
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.
CC.1.4.11-12.X
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
7 standardsCC.1.5.11-12.A
Launch and join discussions on grades 11-12 topics, texts and issues, extending others' points and making your own case clearly and persuasively.
CC.1.5.11-12.B
Judge how a speaker's viewpoint, logic, evidence and rhetoric make an argument more or less believable, looking at stance, premises, word choice, emphasis and tone.
CC.1.5.11-12.C
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.
CC.1.5.11-12.D
Present findings and evidence from a clear, distinct perspective, shaping the organization, depth, content and style to fit the purpose, audience and task.
CC.1.5.11-12.E
Adapt your speaking to many settings and tasks, like a polished, formal manner in a scholarship interview and a relaxed one in a peer workshop.
CC.1.5.11-12.F
Use digital media deliberately in a presentation, like data visualizations or audio clips, to hold interest and deepen understanding of findings, reasoning and evidence.
CC.1.5.11-12.G
Speak with command of grades 11-12 grammar and usage in formal settings, like a senior project defense or a college interview.
The official Pennsylvania documents
- Pennsylvania Core Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics · adopted February 2014 · since March 2014
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Pennsylvania's standards, not the official wording, which Pennsylvania Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.