Nine articles on the young adolescent consider the ability of middle schools to adapt to the needs of their students, the educational implications of preadolescent development, adolescent brain growth and cognitive ability, and the relevance of Piaget's psychology to the middle school. The authors' conclusions include the necessity to identify and investigate the developmental needs and learning capacities of emerging adolescents, to nurture creative problem-solving abilities, to regroup middle school students according to growth and maturation characteristics rather than age (developmental grouping), to introduce concrete rather than abstract concepts to complement brain growth periodization, and to provide for discovery learning. (Author/WD)