STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA)
Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA)!
Welcome to Albert's State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA) course!
This page provides specific content-related information for Albert's STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA) prep course, including how it is organized, what standards it is aligned to, and ideas for classroom uses. If you need technical assistance, please visit our Help Center or contact hello@albert.io.
For testing information or details about the exam itself, visit the Texas Education Agency.
Subject Organization
Albert's STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA) course is organized into themes and further broken into short, formative assessments on specific topics.
Themes
Our full STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA) Assessment guide includes 3 themes that align with the different sections of the exam:
- Reading Quizzes
- Writing Quizzes
- Extended Constructed Response
Reading Quizzes
The Reading Quiz theme has three sections of reading quizzes: Literary, Non-Literary, and Paired Passages. Each section contains a set of short, formative topic quizzes designed to be given in a single class period. The quiz questions mimic the rigor and format of the actual exam. For example, here are some topic quizzes within the Paired Passages section:
- Reading Quiz | The U.S. Postal Service
- Reading Quiz | Science Fair Surprise
- Reading Quiz | Perseverance
Writing Quizzes
The Writing Quiz theme has two sections of writing quizzes: Revising and Editing. Each section contains a set of short, formative topic quizzes designed to be given in a single class period. The quiz questions mimic the rigor and format of the actual exam. For example, here are some topic quizzes within the Revising Quizzes section:
- Writing Quiz | Bioluminescence
- Writing Quiz | Food Deserts
- Writing Quiz | Baseball
Extended Constructed Response
The Extended Constructed Response theme has three sections: Literary, Non-Literary, and Paired Passages and may include informational or argumentative prompts. Each question has the STAAR Grade 6-EII Informational Writing Rubric or the STAAR Grade 6-EII Argumentative Writing Rubric and includes a high-scoring sample response.
The passages for the extended constructed response questions are the same as the passages used for the corresponding reading quizzes, so you
can easily pair the reading questions with the written response.
Here are some topics within the Extended Constructed Response theme:
- Extended Constructed Response | The Storm
- Extended Constructed Response | A Day in the Life in Antarctica
- Extended Constructed Response | The U.S. Postal Service
Using Standards to Find Questions
Standards
Every question is aligned to the standards outlined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 8. Each standard begins with the state abbreviation TX.
You can find questions aligned to learning standards using our standards search tool. In the Standards drop-down at the top of the Assessments tab, you can search for standards by name (for example, TX TEKS 8.5.E*) or description. When you type in characters that match one of the standards, the drop-down will populate with matching standards.
Question Types
STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts (RLA) uses 6 question types to provide students with a variety of practice that mimics the actual exam. These question types include:
- Multiple Choice
- Multiple Select
- Fill-in-the-blank
- Free Entry
- Short Constructed Response
- Extended Constructed Response
Related Content
Formative Assessment Quizzes
The quizzes in this course can be given to students throughout the school year to gauge their understanding of all assessed standards. Teachers can quickly assign one of our short topic quizzes in this course, whether at the end of a unit or as a quick final prep before the exam.
Supplement with Albert's Core Courses
For additional material, you can combine STAAR Grade 8 Reading Language Arts with our other core courses, Leveled Readings, Short Readings, or Poetry. Our core courses are aligned to Texas standards, so you can leverage thousands of aligned practice questions across Albert to assess, reteach, and extend student learning.
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