Kentucky Students Redefine Education Leadership in Landmark Year of Impact

As another school year is underway, Kentucky students are proving that their voices don’t just belong in the classroom—they belong in boardrooms, courtrooms, and conference stages across the state and country. With a mix of research, advocacy, and storytelling, the Kentucky Student Voice Team is redefining what it means for young people to shape the future of education. We’re excited to reflect on and share the transformative work and achievements made during the 2024-25 school year.

KSVT delivered 43 presentations, including 12 to national audiences, and traveled to cities like Washington DC, Phoenix, San Francisco, New York, Cambridge, and–just yesterday–to Omaha, Nebraska to do it. Audiences included the Aspen Institute, the Brookings Institute, the National Urban League, Grantmakers for Thriving Youth and even Harvard Law School, among many others!

We Led 5 original education research studies, including the Youth-Led Student Success Audit at Lexington’s STEAM Academy; the Youth-Led Equity and Achievement Research Study (YEARS Report); Tapped In or Tuned Out: What Kentucky Students Think about School Cell Phone Policies; Beyond the Ballot: An investigation of the state of civic education by Kentucky high school students; and even to a peer-reviewed and published SAGE article on intergenerational partnership—a piece that now serves as a reference point for youth-led research across the country.

We tracked 25 education-related bills, defeated 1 ballot initiative, filed 1 education adequacy lawsuit, and drove 1 voucher awareness myth-busting bus tour. That work was so impactful that The Gallery’s Olivia Krauth publicly named KSVT as one of Kentucky’s premier “Policy-Shapers and Power Players.”

We published stories in 7 external local and national mass media outlets, published 28 pieces in our independent news platform, The New Edu, dropped 13 podcast episodes, and was written about in over 200 media stories, including Teen Vogue, The Hill, EdWeek, Courier-Journal, WEKU-FM, and The Times of India.

Increasingly, the Kentucky Student Voice team is seen as a national model for youth-led education improvement efforts and as credible partners with adults in the field. Since becoming independent in 2021, KSVT has published work in peer-reviewed journals, presented at research and policy conferences, provided practical information to policymakers and journalists and earned numerous contracts to guide outside organizations on ways to meaningfully integrate young people into their own initiatives.

“This year, KSVT’s work extended to both the Capitol and the courthouse,” said Khoa Ta, a senior at Owensboro High School and KSVT’s policy coordinator. “And we applied our skills back home, translating statewide advocacy into local impact for our own schools and communities.”

"KSVT provides a platform for Kentucky youth to participate more fully in school and civic life," said Maanya Sunkara, a senior at DuPont Manual High School in Louisville and KSVT’s membership coordinator. “There is no reason we need to wait until we turn 18 to contribute,” she added.

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About Kentucky Student Voice Team

The Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) is an independent, statewide, 501(c)(3) nonprofit co-founded in 2012 by a group of Kentucky high school students. As a youth-led, intergenerationally sustained organization, KSVT is on a mission to co-create more just, democratic Kentucky schools and communities as research, policy-advocacy & storytelling partners.

During the FY 2024-25 fiscal year, KSVT’s work was made possible by grants and contract revenue from the Limestone Foundation at Mott Philanthropies, Center for Expanding Leadership & Opportunity, Resource Equity Funders Alliance, Kentucky Civic Engagement Table, Bezos Family Foundation, Walton Family Fund, Student Voice Inc., The Center to Advance CTE, Seek Common Ground, The National Urban League, and generous individual donors.