Reading comprehension is the ability to receive and understand meaning from text, for a variety of text formats.
For expository fact-based text, readers must be able to identify the main idea and supporting details.
For literary texts, students are expected to identify elements such as characters and character traits, setting, plot, climax, and resolution. Other concepts that are important to master include cause-effect, compare-contrast, opinion versus fact, derivation of meaning from context, and inference (or reading between the lines).