The Georgia Standards of Excellence are designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills for proficiency in 8th grade English Language Arts through rigor. The GSE address the expanding interests and needs of the middle school student through high expectations in the areas of independent reading, literature, reading for information, writing across the curriculum, inquiry, and listening and speaking, all supported by technology. The overall result of proficiency in these areas should be the ability to apply the knowledge and skills to problems and situations that promote creative and critical thinking. Eighth grade ELA consists of the following areas of study: literary comprehension, information & media literacy, reading skills & vocabulary acquisition, grammar & sentence construction, research, and the writing process.