Introduction

Every day 20 million¹ young adolescents enter school searching for what research and practice have shown to help middle level students excel: challenging and engaging instruction that recognizes that 10- to 15-year-olds are undergoing the most rapid intellectual and developmental changes of their lives; teachers and administrators well prepared to provide young adolescents with a safe, stimulating, and supportive learning environment; and organizational structures that promote high expectations, collaboration, and continual learning for both adolescents and adults.

Instead of experiencing these essential components, however, many middle level students receive an inadequate education. National attention has focused almost exclusively on the early grades in the belief that giving students a strong start would put them on a path to success. More recently, policymakers have sought to improve high school education by raising graduation requirements and aligning curricula to better prepare students for college and careers.Yet the United States still does not have a cohesive national policy for the middle grades, which represent one-third of a student's K-12 education.

Twenty-five years ago, in her book Growing Up Forgotten, noted educator Joan Lipsitz recalled being "startled by the extent to which this age group is underserved."²
Regrettably, that assessment still holds true. Worse, the continued failure to recognize middle level education as the crucial link in the K-12 continuum is jeopardizing efforts to improve America's schools.

It's time to make an excellent education for all young adolescents a national priority.

¹ U.S. Census Bureau. (2004, October). School Enrollment—Social and Economic Characteristics of Students: October 2004.Washington, DC: Current Population Survey. Retrieved January 11, 2006, from www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html

² Lipsitz, J. (1980). Growing up forgotten. New Brunswick, NJ:Transaction Books, p. xv.