Reframing Adolescence & Middle School Family Engagement

Adolescence is a period of enormous opportunity and presents a critical window in which to influence long-term health, wellbeing, and educational and occupational achievement. Yet the public narrative around adolescence and the middle school years in our culture is often negative and leads to misperceptions that can create obstacles to productive policies and practices – especially when it comes to family-school partnerships. To change these attitudes and understandings, the Frameworks Institute conducted research on how to best reframe the narrative around adolescence to one that moves the conversation into more productive territory.