Mental health challenges are on the rise among today's youth. Recent reports have noted an acute and significant need for school-based mental health education and supportive interventions for children and adolescents. Among these approaches, a growing focus has centered on improving students' mental health literacy (MHL) as a foundational…

Young adolescents who are LGBTQIA+ often encounter hostile experiences while in middle level schools. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 young adolescents who are LGBTQIA+ at two middle schools to determine their experiences. Students report the ages at which they realized their gender and sexual identities: Five reveal…

This article examines the ways teachers, students, and teacher educators interacted in a unit around Christopher Columbus and other historical figures that have been given places of privilege within the dominant society. The authors trace how color-evasiveness and explicit engagement with race in the classroom intermingle with the implementation…

The United States, in less than 50 years, has gone from legal segregation and exclusion of students with disabilities in schools to an emphasis on inclusion in the least restrictive environments based on individual student needs. The United States has made great strides in the physical inclusion of students with disabilities, but work is still…

For too long, the middle grades have been racked by a mistaken narrative that this age group is simply too difficult, or that it's a time in life when one must simply endure rather than thrive. The Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) rejects that narrative. It is time for a unified policy agenda in support of the middle grades. This…

At the same time teachers and administrators grapple with how to develop teachers' understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom, recent legislative sessions have unleashed a flood of legislation that seeks to limit teachers from teaching about race, racism, oppression, and injustice in U.S. schools. Teachers are struggling…