Missouri Learning Standards ELA 6–12: What Homeschoolers Actually Need to Know

If you're homeschooling in Missouri and your child is in middle or high school, you may have heard that you need to follow Missouri Learning Standards — or that you're required to align your curriculum to the state's ELA framework for grades 6–12. This is one of the most common pieces of misinformation circulating in Missouri homeschool communities, and it's worth clearing up before it sends you down a planning rabbit hole you don't need to be in.

What Are the Missouri Learning Standards?

Missouri Learning Standards (MLS) are the academic benchmarks the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) sets for public school students. They were updated in 2016 and fully implemented starting with the 2017–18 school year. The ELA standards for grades 6–12 cover reading literature, reading informational text, writing, speaking and listening, and language — things like argument writing, textual analysis, vocabulary acquisition, and research skills.

These standards govern what public school teachers are expected to teach and what students are assessed on through Missouri's state assessments (the Missouri Assessment Program, or MAP, plus end-of-course exams for high school).

They are written for and enforced within the public school system.

Do Missouri Homeschoolers Have to Follow These Standards?

No. Missouri law does not require homeschool families to follow Missouri Learning Standards, align to DESE's curriculum frameworks, or teach to any state-specified content.

Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 167.031, a "home school" is defined as a school in which the parents or guardians are the primary instructors. The statute lists what homeschool parents must do: provide a minimum of 1,000 hours of instruction annually, with at least 600 of those hours in the "five required subjects" (reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science), and at least 400 of those hours at the regular home school location.

Notice what is not on that list: standards alignment, specific texts, grade-level benchmarks, or any curriculum the state has approved.

Missouri is a low-regulation homeschool state. The oversight is minimal by design. DESE does not evaluate or approve homeschool instruction. Local school districts do not have authority to require you to follow state standards.

So Why Does the MLS ELA Framework Matter at All for Homeschoolers?

There are a few legitimate reasons a Missouri homeschool family might want to understand the ELA standards for grades 6–12 — even if they are not obligated to follow them.

1. College and career readiness benchmarks

The Missouri Learning Standards were developed with college and career readiness in mind, drawing from the same research base as the Common Core State Standards (Missouri adopted its own version rather than the federal Common Core). If your student is heading toward a four-year university, the MLS ELA framework gives you a reasonable picture of what competitive applicants are expected to know. It is a useful reference point, not a legal requirement.

2. Dual enrollment and community college coursework

If your homeschooled high schooler wants to take dual enrollment courses at a Missouri community college or university, those courses will be taught by instructors working within frameworks influenced by MLS or equivalent college-ready benchmarks. Having your student comfortable with argument writing, textual analysis, and research writing — all core to MLS ELA 6–12 — will help them succeed in those settings.

3. MAP and ACT alignment

Missouri uses the ACT as its high school assessment for public school juniors. If your student plans to take the ACT, the MLS ELA standards map reasonably well onto what the test covers. Reviewing the standards is one way to audit gaps in your student's preparation.

4. Re-enrollment scenarios

If your family plans to re-enroll your child in a public school or accredited private school at some point — common in high school — understanding where MLS benchmarks place students at each grade level helps you gauge whether your instruction has kept pace. Schools may ask for records or do informal placement assessments, and knowing what grade-level expectations look like helps you advocate for appropriate placement.

What the ELA Standards Actually Cover in Grades 6–12

For reference, here is a plain-English summary of what Missouri Learning Standards target in ELA across middle and high school:

Reading Literature (RL): Close reading of fiction, poetry, and drama. Analyzing theme, character development, point of view, structure, and author's craft. Comparing texts across different authors and time periods.

Reading Informational Text (RI): Analyzing argument, evaluating evidence, understanding how authors structure nonfiction. By high school, students are expected to read complex primary sources and synthesize across multiple texts.

Writing (W): Three modes — argument, informational/explanatory, and narrative. High school students are expected to write sustained arguments with clear claims, relevant evidence, and acknowledgment of counterarguments. Research writing, including citations, is a high school expectation.

Speaking and Listening (SL): Collaborative discussion, formal presentations, evaluating media. Less relevant for many homeschool settings but addressed through debate, co-ops, speech programs, or presentations.

Language (L): Grammar, usage, vocabulary (including academic and domain-specific vocabulary), and conventions. Students are expected to use language flexibly and precisely in both reading and writing contexts.

How to Use This as a Homeschool Planning Tool

If you want to use the MLS ELA framework as a voluntary reference — which is a reasonable thing to do — here is how to approach it practically.

Download the Missouri Learning Standards from DESE's website. The ELA document for grades 6–12 is a PDF that lists each standard by grade level, coded by strand (RL, RI, W, SL, L). You do not need to teach every standard in isolation. The standards describe outcomes, not methods.

Pick a writing strand target for each year. If your 8th grader should be writing defensible arguments with textual evidence, structure your writing instruction around that outcome regardless of which curriculum you use.

Use the reading standards to set complexity expectations. By 8th grade, MLS expects students to read texts at Lexile levels appropriate for that grade. By 12th grade, students should handle complex informational texts and literature independently. This gives you a calibration tool for choosing texts.

Do not teach to the standards as if they were a lesson plan. They describe endpoints, not the path. A Charlotte Mason curriculum, a classical rhetoric program, or a structured writing course like Institute for Excellence in Writing can all produce students who meet or exceed these benchmarks without explicitly tracking to each standard.

Recordkeeping and the ELA Standards

Missouri homeschool law requires parents to maintain records showing that they have met the 1,000-hour instruction requirement across the required subjects. Reading and language arts count toward those hours. You are not required to document alignment to specific MLS standards in your records.

Keep a simple log of your ELA instruction — what texts you read, what writing assignments you completed, how many hours per week you devoted to language arts. That is all Missouri requires. If you choose to note which MLS standards a given assignment addressed, that is optional and may be useful for your own planning, but it is not something you will ever be required to produce for a government official.

The Bottom Line

Missouri Learning Standards for ELA grades 6–12 are a public school framework. They do not govern homeschool instruction. You are not required to follow them, align your curriculum to them, or report on them.

That said, they are a reasonable voluntary reference if you want to benchmark your student's progress against grade-level expectations, prepare for dual enrollment, or plan for possible re-enrollment. Use them as a tool when they are useful, and set them aside when they are not.

What you are required to do in Missouri is simpler than most families expect: provide 1,000 hours of instruction per year, cover the five required subjects, maintain basic records, and file a notice of intent with your local school district. If you are working through the withdrawal and setup process and want a clear guide to the legal requirements, the Missouri Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the full process — withdrawal letters, recordkeeping templates, and the legal framework for Missouri home education.

Get the Missouri Legal Withdrawal Blueprint

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