A Pivotal Year of Impact at the Kentucky Student Voice Team

Ahead of the new school year, the Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) announced the impact of the transformative work achieved over the past one. Among other achievements, during the 2023-24 school year, KSVT collectively:

• Presented 42 times across 8 states to local and national organizations, associations and conferences, with audiences ranging from Kentucky House Education Committee and Kentucky Women’s Network to Harvard Law School, SXSW Edu, National Urban League and the United States Department of Justice.
• Released or contributed to 5 youth-led education research studies including investigations on how students are navigating cultural diversity and racial representation in their classrooms. The work also included two school climate audits coaching other students as researchers at Moss Middle School and Frankfort High School.
• Published 34 articles, op-eds and podcasts in both internal and external news media outlets centering pressing education issues from students’ perspectives. One of those stories also received recognition for its outstanding nature by Report for America.
• Were featured in 34 local and national news media stories in outlets like The Nation, The 74, C-SPAN, Brookings, The Courier-Journal, and The Herald-Leader.
• Advanced 6 legislative priorities seeking to protect student journalists from censorship, add students to district school boards, end hair discrimination in schools, promote more robust civic education, oppose the gutting of trauma-informed curricula, and affirm students’ constitutional right to an adequate education.
• Facilitated 6 intergenerational forums across the state to rekindle the vision of the 1989 Rose v. Council for Better Education state supreme court ruling that affirms students’ constitutional right to an adequate and equitable education. KSVT held events drawing students, parents, teachers, and other community members in Corbin, Louisville, Bowling Green, Hazard, Lexington, and Owensboro.

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.

“By fostering ongoing dialogue about education across the state, we not only raise awareness of our work but also inspire others to take action with us,” said Luisa Sanchez, junior at Boyle County High School and KSVT’s cross-organizational coordinator. “It was pretty special during the last year to bring the conversation about what we want for Kentucky’s schools directly to students and other citizens.”

“When students participate in the democratic process, we help shape a more responsive government,” said Zachary Clifton, a recent graduate of Corbin High School and KSVT policy coordinator. “By voicing our concerns and ideas, we promote dialogue among those with differences and solutions that benefit everyone, strengthening the foundation of not only our schools but also of a functioning democracy.” 

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About Kentucky Student Voice Team

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

During the FY 2023-24 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, Kentucky Civic Engagement Table, Bezos Family Foundation, Walton Family Fund, The Annie Casey Foundation, The National Urban League, and individual donors.