The Illinois state core curriculum requirements provide that in the eighth grade, students should be fluent readers of diverse texts, including fiction and nonfiction. In fiction, students should be able to read and comprehend drama, stories and poetry. They are required to show the ability to think critically about key ideas and details in texts, to draw inferences from texts, and to cite passages to support ideas and claims. Additionally, students should be able to use context clues in reading to decipher vocabulary words with which they are not familiar.
Eighth grade students are required to show the ability to write research-based and reflective papers. Writing is expected to reflect a clear, coherent presentation of ideas and to be free of grammar and mechanical errors. Students shall utilize a writing process that includes re-reading, reviewing and editing to polish work before submission. The core curriculum requirements also provide that eighth grade language teachers should instruct in grade-appropriate vocabulary and grammar.
Students are required to show understanding of the differences between the federal, state and local levels of government. Further, students should understand the shared responsibilities of different branches of government and be able to identify the three branches of government and each branch's basic duties. The curriculum also provides that students learn the electoral process and the processes by which citizens engage and participate in the public process.
The eighth grade core curriculum requirements for math provide that students understand rational numbers and use rational approximations. Students should be capable of showing connections between proportional relationships, lines and linear equations. Students should be able to graph lines when given points. In addition, the curriculum requires that students show the ability to analyze and solve linear equations and to work with decimals comfortably.
In the subject of science, eighth grade students are required to complete independent projects and experiments and to use the scientific method. Specifically, students shall ask a question of scientific relevance, form a hypothesis, conduct research, analyze research and draw a conclusion based on evidence. At this grade level, students should be able to compare the characteristics of organisms, observe cell functions, explain cell functions, understand the requirements for cell life, and identify and classify the biotic and abiotic factors in an environment.