What we're doing for summer vacation.

• Author: Zack, Ian

Dear Teachers,

As the 2014-15 school year winds down, we hope you're planning a restful and rejuvenating summer break. Here at Upfront, we're doing some exciting planning of our own. In the coming weeks, we'll be visiting classrooms, chatting with teachers and students, and poring over the past year's issues to evaluate how we can make Upfront even better! Some of the plans already in the works for 2015-16 include:

--A redesigned website with lots of sleek new features, including a better way to search for current and past articles and resources.

--More of the top-notch lessons, activities, and digital offerings you love. Look out for more primary-source texts to complement Upfront articles, especially those foundational documents of history and literature that many of you have told us you're looking for.

--More quizzes and activities to help students prepare for the "new SAT." It's set to roll out in spring 2016 and, like the PARCC and Smarter Balanced tests, will focus heavily on evidence-based reading. For example, students may be asked to select a quote from a text that best supports the answer they...