Chapter 1: Developmental Aspects of Young Adolescents

When members of the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group met in spring 2015 to begin discussing a new research agenda, one of the first topics identified was “developmental aspects of young adolescents.” As middle level advocates, we understood that understanding students is the essence of the middle school concept. As Scales (2010) statedin This We Believe, “The curriculum, pedagogy, and programs of middle grades schools must be based upon the developmental readiness, needs, and interests of young adolescents. This concept is at the heart of middle level education” (p. 5).

Those of us who volunteered to work on this aspect of the research agenda envisioned our task as (a) conducting a review of recent research in young adolescent development, (b) identifying gaps in the literature, and(c)generating questions to be included in an updated research agenda. We began by conducting a review of recent research related to developmental topics that affect experiences in middle level schools. We examined both the content of research reports and the potential mindsets they may encourage. Our specific goals were to