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About Remaking Middle School

The Vision

Remaking Middle School is a multi-phase initiative, elevating the innovation that is present in middle schools across the country and soliciting national input on how we ensure all students thrive in, and grow from, their experience in the middle grades. The Remaking Middle School Initiative is an emerging partnership working to build and steward a new collective effort for young adolescent learning and development. Working alongside partners in the field, we are aiming to build a national action agenda, outlining how to implement initiatives and innovations that can make those changes a reality. Middle school can both reflect the developmental changes that youth experience—and reinforce their strengths; autonomy, connectedness, active learning, innovation, and activism to name a few.

“As we increasingly understand the critical role this season of development is for young people, we can no longer be satisfied with the current state of middle school.”
~ Nancy Deutsch, Director of Youth-Nex

Through This Initiative, Youth-Nex Will

  1. Elevate the importance of middle school and realize its promise for all students.
  2. Highlight and disseminate existing research that the education field can use to ensure middle school better aligns with our youths' developmental needs.
  3. Establish the conditions for adults in the classroom and school building to shape educational experiences that elevate our youths' strengths.

Our Partners

The Remaking Middle School initiative is an emerging partnership working to build and steward a new collective effort for young adolescent learning and development. Founding partners include the University of Virginia Youth-Nex Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), the Altria Group, and the New York Life Foundation. We are seeking to ignite conversation, action, and a movement to re-envision and remake the middle school experience in a way that recognizes the strengths of young adolescents and ensures all students thrive and grow from their experiences in the middle grades.

Partner With Us

Remaking middle school requires a collective effort--from those in the school building and across the community to those in the state legislature. With your support, we can fulfill the promise that middle school can offer. Join us by signing up online

Remaking Middle School Launch

On February 12-13, 2019 in Washington, D.C., the New York Life Foundation, Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), Altria, and Youth-Nex gathered to envision and remake the future of learning for young adolescents at the Remaking Middle School Summit. Generously hosted by Gallup, the Summit brought together practitioners, researchers, youth, policymakers, out-of-school time providers, funders, and others committed to dramatically improving the learning experiences and outcomes of all young adolescents.

With powerful research on positive youth development, we work to reimagine the middle school experience in a way that recognizes the strengths of our youth. Building from an understanding of what young adolescents need, Remaking Middle School Summit participants began to generate solutions to transform the middle grades and build a national vision for shifting the middle school experience to a positive one for all youth. 

Summit Working Papers

The Remaking Middle School Working Papers Series was commissioned for the Remaking Middle School Summit to synthesize existing knowledge and evidence on dimensions relevant to the task of optimizing young adolescent learning. Each paper offers a compilation of literature related to a topic with a keen focus on the developmental needs of young adolescents. The research, practices, and themes noted in the series are intended to serve as a foundation from which to re-envision the middle school experience.

Young Adolescent Development

Joanna Lee Williams, Lauren C. Mims, & Haley E. Johnson

Optimizing Teaching and Learning in the Middle Grades

Penny A. Bishop & John M. Downes

Leading for Young Adolescent Development: Prioritizing What We Know Matters

Coby Meyers, Karen Sanzo, & Julia Taylor

Contact Us

Youth-Nex

Youth-Nex is a trans-disciplinary center with a translational approach to scholarship and innovation that is central to its work. 

Youth-Nex and AMLE logos side by side

The Remaking Middle School initiative is an emerging partnership working to build and steward a new collective effort for young adolescent learning and development. Founding partners include the University of Virginia Youth-Nex Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), the Altria Group, and the New York Life Foundation. We are seeking to ignite conversation, action, and a movement to re-envision and remake the middle school experience in a way that recognizes the strengths of young adolescents and ensures all students thrive and grow from their experiences in the middle grades.