How it all started, and what's happened since
The Kentucky Student Voice team started in 2012 with humble beginnings with the first meeting of four students and one adult in a coffee shop in Lexington. What has unfolded since has become a national model for intergenerational education advocacy, storytelling and research with lasting impact in schools and communities across the Commonwealth.
First meeting held
The first official meeting followed at KET with seven Central Kentucky high school students and adult volunteer. We explored idea of making the case to the Prichard Committee membership about whether and how students should be more fully integrated into the organization’s work. Soon we grew to 13 Central Kentucky high school students under the working title Student Voice Initiative (SVI).
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First Roundtable Held
Mayor’s Youth Council Roundtables inLexington were the First KSVT roundtable.
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First op-ed published
Andrew Brennen’s Op-Ed in Sunday Herald-Leader, “Students should have say in college training of classroom teachers”, was the first of many KSVT pieces published.
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Student Voice Initiative becomes Prichard Committee Student Voice Team
Student Voice Initiative becomes Prichard Committee Student Voice Team after founding members present their findings and recommendations at the Prichard Committee spring meeting in Carrollton and are met with a floor vote and overwhelming support to move forward with further experimentation.
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Keynote at Prichard Committee’s Adequate Funding Summit
SVT members share student stories and data about the results of inadequate school funding as part of the “We Can’t Wait Campaign” with a keynote at the Prichard Committee’s Adequate Funding Summit in Lexington.
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First legislative testimony
SVT testifies with the Prichard Committee’s Team on Teacher Effectiveness to the Interim Joint Committee on Education.
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first legislative bill filed
SVT drafts bill language and secures legislative sponsorship by Rep. Derrick Graham of what will become HB 236 to add students to Kentucky’s superintendent screening committees.
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First National News Feature
SVT featured in first (but definitely not last) national news story by Emma Brown in The Washington Post titled ”Kentucky students to state lawmakers: Our voices should matter.”
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First statewide youth-led rally at the Capitol
SVT mobilizes hundreds of young people from across the state in the Stand with Students Rally in Frankfort.
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first student-led school climate audit
SVT conducts first student-led school climate audit at Robert Campbell Jr. High School in Winchester.
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first policy report released
KSVT's first policy report, “Uncovering the Tripwires to Postsecondary Success", focused on three main barriers to college transitions: the birthright lottery, veiled college costs, and college and career unreadiness.
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First major funder meeting
SVT meets with first major funder, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO, Dr. Susan Desmond Hellman in Louisville.
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facilitated first editorial board meeting with the Courier-Journal
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first presentation to a national think tank
SVT’s Lydia Burns and Jamie Smith make the case for including school climate as a critical measure in school accountability at Fordham Institute ESSA presentation, Washington, D.C.
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Launch the Powerball Promise campaign
SVT launches the Powerball Promise to restore needs-based college scholarships to low-income students that had been diverted from state lottery funding. Team organizes major media event featuring data and student stories in Capitol Rotunda: Ready to Go but No Way to Pay: Stories of Low-Income Students, drawing 200+ youth and adults.
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Powerball Promise wins $14M for student scholarships
State Budget passes and includes an additional $14 million to support college scholarships for low-income students from the Kentucky lottery, widely-recognized as attributable to the SVT’s Powerball Promise campaign.
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SVT publishes Students as Partners report
The Students as Partners policy report included a survey of Kentucky administrators about the extent to which they would support student representatives on school governance bodies; Eliza Jane Schaeffer and Sahar Zadeh present Students as Partners findings to FCPS Board.
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Publish College Tripwires Policy Report
SVT publishes “College Tripwires”, a policy report exploring inequities in the college transition process. Sahar Zadeh receives Gear Up Partnership Award on behalf of SVT in Washington, D.C. and presents Tripwires work to 1200 people.
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How to customize formatting for each rich text
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and we're just
getting started.
It takes all of us to support our young people and work together to create more just, democratic schools in Kentucky. Fuel the future of our work by engaging with us: following KSVT on social media, join our team of young people, attend an event or make a donation.