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In 2016, the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group (MLER SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) published "The MLER SIG Research Agenda," a white paper identifying critical issues and concerns facing the field of middle level education. Since its release, much has changed. This manuscript is a revised version of "The MLER SIG Research Agenda." More than 40 researchers from across the globe collaborated to develop an agenda for future middle level research that illuminates strategies for moving middle level education forward in support of young adolescents within the current state of affairs. The research summarized in this manuscript represents eight focus areas: (a) middle grades curriculum; (b) middle grades pedagogies; (c) middle level certification and licensure; (d) middle level leadership; (e) middle level schools, classrooms, culture, and learning environments; (f) middle level teacher development; (g) social and emotional wellbeing; and (h) young adolescent identity and experiences. Each group summarized the current literature in their area and developed a list of questions to guide future middle level education research. This manuscript is intended to start conversations, generate ideas for research projects, and contribute new knowledge to the field of middle level education.

Youth experiencing homelessness have seldom had the opportunity to contribute to conversations about policies and practices that impact their day-to-day lives. Brinegar highlighted middle level education research’s contribution to the lack of representation of the voices of youth from marginalized perspectives. Where opportunities lack, dominant narratives persist. The word homeless often conjures deficit-laden images of ineptitude and unintelligence. This qualitative humanizing research study worked with one participant, AJ, who created maps and other identity artifacts as a means of illuminating his funds of identity that were then analyzed using Creswell and Poth’s data analysis spiral. Though results showed AJ to be a young adolescent with multiple funds of identity, the purpose of this article is to present how AJ draws great strength and purpose from his identity as a creator, despite transience between schools, who leverages technology for his personal and academic benefit. These results describe a young adolescent whose resilience and funds of identity transcend dominant narratives surrounding homelessness and point to opportunities for educator support in curriculum development and school-level policy.