Achieve 3000 Data

10th graders should be reading at 1080L to 1335L.

Our goal in 10th grade English is that EVERYONE improves
their Lexile by 200L. This will be measured using your
September Lexile in comparison to your June Lexile. Use
the chart below to track your progress.
Stude
nt

Starting
Lexile
(Septembe
r)

865L

545L

BR85L

585L

865L

575L

125L

145L

30L

10

125L

5Jan

63
%
75
%
75
%
63
%
63
%
25
%
75
%
75
%
13
%
50
%

Benchma
rk Lexile
(January)

9Feb

23Feb

2Mar

9Mar

810L

63% 63% 63% 88%

560L

100
%

185L

75% 63%

585L

25% 50% 50%

100
%

88% 75%
100
%

100
%

16Mar

23Mar

100
%
100
%

100
%
100
%

Benchma
rk Lexile
(March)

845L
625L

88% 88%

355L

63%

585L

905L

75% 50% 25% 88% 88% 88%

900L

535L

75% 63% 50% 63% 63% 88%

570L

230L

63% 13% 38% 88% 63% 50%

300L

110L

75% 13% 75% 63%

30L
105L

38% 50% 38%

25%

100
%
100
%

88%

225L

75%

30L

0%

You should be receiving a 75% or more on the

activity. If not, stop and read more carefully.

125L

Name: __________________________

Its Not Just the Clothes

TRENTON, New Jersey A hip-hop fashion statement linked to
penitentiaries may land some people in court, as some cities and towns
have adopted ordinances that forbid the wearing of pants baggy enough to
expose the wearer's undergarments. In some communities, offenders can
face fines and even jail time.
Proposals to ban loose-fitting pants are popping up nationwide, including
in Delcambre, Louisiana, where wearing pants worn low enough to reveal
undergarments can incur penalties of
up to six months in jail and fines up to
$500. Restrictions are also being
considered in Atlanta, Georgia, and in
Trenton, New Jersey, where pants
worn well below the typical beltline
may soon translate into a fine.

1. What is this article

about?

2. What are the

consequences for
wearing baggy pants
in Delcambre,
Louisiana?

Trenton Councilwoman Annette

Lartigue, who is drafting a law to outlaw baggy pants, said, "The message
is clear: We don't want to see your backside."
The baggy-pants trend emerged from prisons, where, for security reasons,
inmates aren't given belts to hold up uniform pants. By the late 1980s, the
trend had made it to hip-hop videos and high school hallways. On the
average American street, however, the trend continues to inspire discord
between those who consider the pants a breach of public decorum and
those who consider the fashion a statement of African-American pride
and dignity.

3. Use the reading to

determine what the
word discord means?

At one Trenton hip-hop clothing store, shopper Mark Wise, 30, said that
he wears the baggy jeans for practical reasons, saying, "The reason I don't
wear tight pants is because it's easier to get money out of my pocket this
way. . . . It's just more comfortable."
"It should be my personal choice what to wear," said Jimmy Person, 34, at
a recent hearing on the issue in Atlanta. "Maybe young people should be
more tasteful. But let young people decide for themselves."
"For young people, it's a form of rebellion and identity," said Adrian
"Easy A.D." Harris, 43, a founding member of the Bronx's legendary rap
group Cold Crush Brothers. "The young people think it's
fashionable. They don't think it's negative."
But those who disagree see the trend as a bad influence on children.
"It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids, and we want
to stop it before it gets there," said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councilman
who supports banning the loose-fitting pants. In Atlanta, voices have been

4. How did the baggy

pant trend begin?

raised in support of community standards that dissuade young people

from entering into the trend.
"I don't think we're doing our ancestors due justice for some of the things
we are doing today. It's time for us to push back," said Lonnie King, an
Atlanta resident. "We cannot afford to let young people decide what's best
for our community. Young people have a lot of good ideas, but we cannot
allow them to denigrate our society."

5. What is the argument

being made
supporting the use of
baggy pants?

Others say that the wearing of baggy pants demonstrates low self-esteem,
pointing to the connection between prison and the clothing style.
But critics of the proposed ban, led by the American Civil Liberties
Union, say the restrictions are a form of racial profiling that would target
African-American males based on their attire, and might not withstand a
court challenge. Citing those concerns, Stratford, Connecticut, rejected a
similar proposal.
"In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling," said Benetta Standly,
statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of
Georgia. "It's going to target African-American male youths."
Regardless of the outcome, some see an overdue debate about how to
draw the line in public dress in schools, community centers, and churches.
"If nothing else, it's a great part of a conversation we need to have," said
Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd.

EXTENSION
A. Write a summary of the article.

B. Your Opinion: Should it be illegal to wear baggy pants?

6. What is the
counterargument for
the use of baggy
pants?

Name: __________________________

Greenpeace Gets a New Leader

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Since he was a teenager, Kumi Naidoo has been an activist, fighting
against segregation, marching for the rights of women and children, and
leading campaigns to eradicate poverty around the globe. Now, Naidoo
will tackle another important issue: the battle against global climate
changeas the new leader of the environmental group Greenpeace.
On November 16, 2009, Kumi Naidoo, 44, was named Executive Director
of Greenpeace International. Naidoo's appointment is viewed as a
watershed, both because he is the first African to
lead the group and because he is the first executive
director to be appointed from outside the
organization. Naidoo also brings to the position a
wealth of experience, as well as an invaluable
network of powerful contacts.
Naidoo's career as an activist began in the 1970s
and 1980s, when he fought against apartheid in his
home country of South Africa. At 15, Naidoo took
part in nationwide student protests, and by 16 had been expelled from
school for participating in peaceful demonstrations. Naidoo completed his
high school studies at home and went on to earn a law degree in South
Africa. He later moved to England to matriculate at Oxford University,
where he earned a doctorate in political sociology as a Rhodes Scholar. In
1990, the South African government ended its system of apartheid and
released longtime anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, who had
been incarcerated for 27 years. Naidoo returned to South Africa that year
to work for the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid
groups, which had turned their attention to working for racial equality.
In addition to his work to end apartheid, Naidoo has led global campaigns
to end poverty and protect human rights. He works closely with Global
Call to Action Against Poverty, an international alliance whose main goal
is to improve the lives of people living in poverty around the world. In
this capacity, Naidoo has pushed to strengthen international cooperation
and ensure the concerns of poorer nations are heard when wealthier
nations plan policies for the future.
Despite his record of activism, upon assuming the helm of Greenpeace
Naidoo said he still had a great deal to learn about the organization's
current environmental agenda. The organization was founded in 1971 by
environmental activists who were protesting U.S. nuclear testing off the
coast of Alaska. Since then, it has taken positions on a number of

1. Who is Kumi Naidoo?

2. Why is Naidoos
position as Executive
Director important?

3. When did Naidoo

begin his activism?
Where?

4. What other work has

Naidoo completed?

ecological issues, from protecting whales and forests to stopping nuclear

tests and toxic dumping.
One area of the environment in which the new director has some
experience is the issue of global warming, an increasingly overriding
concern of Greenpeace and other environmental groups. Recently, Naidoo
led the Global Campaign for Climate Action, a group that brings together
environmental, religious and human rights groups, scientists, and others
to organize peaceful mass demonstrations around climate
negotiations. Having had success with this approach, Naidoo says that as
director of Greenpeace he plans to rally other human rights groups and
development workers to support the climate cause.

5. What is Naidoos goal

for Greenpeace?

As Naidoo puts it: "If the whole planet is under threatwhat's the point
of not addressing that and saying we'll do other development work?"
One of Naidoo's first tests as the leader of Greenpeace came in December
2009, when negotiators from 193 countries sat down in Copenhagen,
Denmark, to try to draft a global agreement to cut greenhouse gas
emissions blamed for global warming. To Naidoo's disappointment, the
Copenhagen summit failed to reach a binding deal on mitigating climate
change. Instead, the marathon talks yielded the Copenhagen Accord, a
non-binding document crafted by a group of countries that account for
around 80 percent of world carbon emissions, including the United
States. While some world leaders view the document as a significant step
toward ending climate change, Naidoo and other Greenpeace officials
have overtly stated their dissatisfaction with the Copenhagen Accord.
As world leaders make plans to gather in Mexico in December 2010 for a
second meeting to discuss climate change, Naidoo and Greenpeace are
paying close attention to the work of these leaders. Naidoo
has averred that while Greenpeace is committed to dialogue to achieve its
goal to end global warming, the organization believes that there is a time
when it is appropriate to galvanize protesters into actionthough always
through peaceful means, an essential component of the group's mission.
"Governments, sadly, are unlikely to change as fast we need them to
unless they are pushed," Naidoo said. "We have to change the politics. If
we can't change the politics, then we have to put our energies into
changing the politicians. We [need to] get it right," Naidoo said.

EXTENSION
A. Write a summary of the article.
B. Make a list of causes that activists support.

6. How is Naidoo going to

bring support to the
climate cause?

Name: __________________________

Same Kids, Different Lives

ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Four students canvassed the rows of butter in the refrigerator cases of a
supermarket in Anchorage, Alaska. The number of choices seemed
incalculable; there were certainly more options than these students had
ever seen.

Do Now: The best way to learn

about people is to visit them at
home, school, and work.
How would you do that? What do
you think?

"This is the kind we have at home," said 14-year-old Karstin Hadley,

pointing to a pound of butter marked $2.99 and noting that at the store in
her small village, nearly 500 miles away, the only brand of butter
available goes for $4.79 a pound.
The eighth-graders had come to Anchorage from the Inupiat Eskimo
village of Buckland as part of a federally funded exchange program called
the Rose Urban Rural Exchange. High school and middle school students
from 30 schools are participating in the program, which pairs remote
schools with their city counterparts in an effort to build understanding
between rural and urban Alaskans. As they explore communities that
seem worlds apart from their own, participants learn that cultural
differences are just as valuable as similarities.
Up to five students from each school, along with one teacher, stay with
host families. They visit their sister schools, undertake educational
projects, and go on field trips related to subjects they are learning about in
school, including health care, transportation, the economy, and foods
produced and procured for subsistence. Students from both schools
document their visits by taking photos and audio recordings to share with
their classmates back home.
"Instead of reading about them in a book, they get to experience these
issues first hand," explained Panu Lucier, director of the program.
In May, an exchange took place between students from Buckland and
students from Mirror Lake Middle School in the Anchorage suburb of
Chugiak. At Mirror Lake, competition for the five spots in the program
was fervent; approximately 25 assiduous students turned in essays
explaining why they should be selected for the one-week visit.
Once participating students arrived at their destinations, they had a
profusion of experiences. In Anchorage, population 282,813, the students
from Buckland, population 418, toured a musk-ox farm, the state crime
lab, a local landfill, and the University of Alaska. When they saw gas
stations, they compared the prices to those in Buckland, where gas costs
about six dollars a gallon. They ate Big Macs, went to an indoor water
park, and noted the capaciousness of the malls. When Buckland student
Aaron Ballot went with his host family to a multiplex to seeSpider-Man 3,
it was only his second time in a movie theater.

1. Where is this article

taking place?

2. Explain the details of

the program at the
center of this article.

Ballot and his classmates also visited Mirror Lake Middle School, which has 680 students, making it more
populous than the entire village of Buckland.
The Buckland students had fun, but urban life was a bit overwhelming for some. "It's too big for me," said
Hadley, adding, "It's too busy here."
The previous week, seventh-graders from Mirror Lake ventured up to Buckland, a treeless community built on
tundra just below the Arctic Circle. The urban students went ice fishing for sheefish, learned native dancing,
made swan sculptures out of caribou antlers, sewed traditional cloth parkas called kuspuks, and learned a body
slamming game called buckbuck.
Like their Buckland counterparts, the Mirror Lake students visited the local store to check out food
prices. They were astonished to see how expensive food is in Buckland, which is so isolated that it is difficult
to transport goods there. A large bag of potato chips costs $7.15, and a dozen eggs costs $4.99.
Staying with host families presented many novel experiences for the Mirror Lake students. In Buckland, houses
are built on stilts for protection in case the river overruns its banks. There is also a 10 p.m. curfew for minors
and no indoor plumbing except at the school and in teacher housing. Homes typically have five-gallon plastic
pails for toilets, and the village has a "washeteria," which is a coin-operated laundry and public
shower amalgamation.
Mirror Lake student Tilly Cantor enjoyed a soup made by her host family until she learned that the ingredients
included the heart and tongue of caribou.
Despite the surprises, the Mirror Lake students could see ways that their Buckland peers were very much like
them. Most people have dogs, the teenagers have laptop computers, and many families subscribe to Netflix, the
mail-order movie-rental service.
By the end of their visit to Buckland, Cantor and classmate Heidi O'Hara felt right at home.
"We're thinking of going back this summer," Cantor said.

Create a venn diagram for the groups of students in this article.