Grade Two: English–Language Arts (ELA)

Typical Grade Two ELA Performance on the CST

Advanced

Students in grade two at the advanced level read with full understanding a variety of grade-appropriate texts. They understand complex written directions, infer main ideas, understand characterization, and synthesize information from a chart with information in a text. Advanced second-grade students also possess a variety of foundational English language skills, including determining the meaning of multiple-meaning words, dividing words into syllables, spelling, and use of complete sentences. Advanced students also understand the concept of topic sentences and the use of details to develop ideas.

Proficient

Students in grade two at the proficient level read with understanding a variety of grade-appropriate texts. They determine main ideas, cause-and-effect relationships and purpose in informational texts, and they understand basic aspects of characterization in literary texts. Proficient students demonstrate a good grasp of many foundational English language skills: they recognize the meaning of compound words, understand basic letter-sound correspondences, know common suffixes, and determine the meaning of frequently occurring multiple-meaning words. Proficient second-grade students know common punctuation and capitalization rules and can identify incomplete sentences. They also understand the main focus of a paragraph and can add appropriate details to develop ideas.

Basic

Students in grade two at the basic level read grade-appropriate texts with some understanding and recognize explicit information, including main ideas and cause and effect, within texts. They recall relevant details explicitly stated in informational text and can identify the setting of a literary text. Students at the basic level show evidence of emerging skills in the English language: they know some common letter-sound correspondences, rhymes, prefixes, abbreviations, and rules for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. They also may understand the purpose of common reference tools such as atlases and dictionaries.

Below Basic

Students in grade two at the below basic level may read grade-appropriate texts with some understanding and recognize explicit information, including recalling details or main events. They demonstrate an understanding of simple English language skills, including recognizing common abbreviations, forming regular plurals, and using apostrophes in contractions.