This issue in focus.

• Author: Zack, Ian

Dear Teachers,

In January, we began including Lexile scores for key articles. As I have noted, Lexile scores are one way of measuring the complexity of texts. Since the Common Core places great importance on text complexity, I want to discuss other ways Upfront addresses it.

Purpose and Structure: While some articles have a single purpose and linear structure, others have multiple purposes and challenging, nonlinear structures. In this issue, for example, "21st Century Slavery" weaves narrative-style anecdotes with exposition about human trafficking to describe modern-day slavery and compare it with slavery of the past.

Language: Upfront's...