Educator and Student Support

Student Research & Activism

IDRA’s roots are in San Antonio’s Westside, where students organized five decades ago to challenge Texas’ inequitable school funding system that left generations of Latino and Black students in poorly-resourced schools. Today, students are still calling for safe and welcoming schools that prepare them for college and a strong future. We must listen.

Below are some highlights of student voices through their own research and activism.

Also see the IDRA Student Engagement – Online Technical Assistance Toolkit, which is designed to provide educators tools for engaging all students, including students who are usually most marginalized in schools and communities. This online technical assistance package includes a literature review, webinar sessions, articles, podcasts and other resources.

Infographic: Steps to Promoting Student Activism

Youth Advisory Board

Through IDRA’s Youth Advisory Board, high school students from across Texas provide their insights about equity in education and advocacy.

Youth Participatory Action Research

MAS-for-Our-Schools-Team-squareThrough IDRA’s Equal Justice Works Fellowship, the Safety, Dignity, and Belonging project is a legal youth participatory action research project co-led by four youth researchers and an adult researcher studying the school discipline experiences of Black girls in Atlanta-area schools.

The MAS for Our Schools youth participatory action research project was a study by students from the Mexican American Studies Student Association (MASSA) at Marshall High School in San Antonio’s Northside ISD. The students presented their work at the annual conference of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies in March 2024 and at the MAS Teachers’ Academy held at the University of Texas at San Antonio in June 2024.  The project was generously supported by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL). A second cohort of students began their study in May 2024.

A team of high school students who were members of IDRA’s 2022 Youth Advisory Board studied, “Culturally Responsive Education and School Discipline in Texas Schools: A Mixed-Methods Case Study.” They presented preliminary results during the virtual IDRA José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellows Symposium in May 2023. See the youth-led research study: The Intersections of Culturally Responsive Education and School Discipline – A Youth Participatory Action Research Case Study of Texas Public Schools. Also see the report announcement. See related article: IDRA Youth Advisory Board Members Study Culturally Responsive Teaching and School Discipline, by Christina Quintanilla-Muñoz, M.Ed.

During the summer and fall of 2020, four high school and college students led a participatory action research project to collect insights from our peers about the impact of COVID-19 on students and how the pandemic has worsened or changed the challenges young people face in their schools.

Events

Virtual & In-person National Youth Summit held on Saturday, November 16, 2024, planned and led by students featured presentations on policy advocacy issues affecting Texas youth. Participating students learned about education policy issues in Texas and how they can use their power to create change.

Virtual Summit: IDRA’s 2023 National Virtual Youth Summit was designed for students across the country to learn about how they can advocate for safer and more successful learning environments, especially in communities targeted by inequitable education policies. IDRA facilitated this work, but the plans and actions were student-driven. The video and slidedeck are available for viewing.

Student research highlights presentation, Culturally Responsive Education and School Discipline in Texas Schools: A Mixed-Methods Case Study, May 2023

Virtual Summit: Leading into the 2021 Texas legislative session IDRA hosted a Texas Student Advocacy Convening virtual summit for students to hear the results of a student-led survey about experiences with school during the pandemic, discuss major policy issues the legislature was considering and issues you think they should consider, and plan next steps for elevating student voices at the capitol. IDRA facilitated this work, but the plans and actions were student-driven.

Webinar: Our Youth Tech Mentors Bridge Schools and Families – Creative Community Responses to COVID-19 webinar presented teens and college students who were helping families and their children navigate technology for school.

Student Panelists: STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice Convening – STEM Talk Videos: IDRA helped to coordinate the opening session of the international STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice Convening on March 2, 2020. Students kicked off the event with a student panel discussion followed by individual student STEM talks

Webinar: Reimagining Student Engagement: Revamping School Policy and Practice and Fostering Student Advocacy, featuring Thomas Marshall III, M.Ed., Christina Quintanilla-Muñoz, M.Ed., & Melivia Mujica. This webinar explores how schools can reimagine their student and family engagements students return this fall to rebuild and foster authentic relationships between campus leadership, teachers, students and families while helping to reinforce trust and positive family attitudes about students’ education and school-family engagement. Held during the IDRA EAC-South virtual convening, July 2021.

Webinar: The Power of Student Advocacy, featuring Melivia Mujica, Michelle Nguyen. This session discusses how to create a space for students to bring in input to create a safe space in an educational space and how to increase student engagement and student voice from the experience of former students who pushed for mental health supports from IDRA’s work with student advocates. Held during the IDRA EAC-South virtual convening, July 2021.

Videos: Speeches & Testimony

SB 120 Erases Our Stories and Our Truths – IDRA Student Testimony Against SB 120, submitted by Laila Errold to the Georgia Senate Higher Education Committee, February 27, 2025

Students Urge School Board to Protect Immigrant Student Safety – Zariah, February 10, 2025

Students Urge School Board to Protect Immigrant Student Safety – Adrian, February 10, 2025

Please Help Public Schools Get Better – Testimony Against HB 3 by Felicita Piñón, to the Texas House Public Education Committee, March 11, 2025

Private Schools Didn’t Choose Me – Testimony Against SB2 by Felicita Piñón to the Texas Senate Committee on Education (K-16), January 28, 2025

My Siblings Deserve Better, Fully Funded Schools – Testimony for SB 284 presented by Jordan Madden, to the Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee, March 25, 2024

Student leaders who organized to get their mariachi school program reinstated reflect on why mariachi is important in schools (Part 1, Part 2), 2023

Students James Wilson (Georgia) and Kaleb Dunn (Texas) speak at IDRA’s 50th Anniversary Gala, November 2023

Video Gallery: Student Testimony Against Classroom Censorship

Video Gallery: Students testify before the Texas State Board of Education for African American Studies, April 2020

Video Gallery: Student Testimony Against Transgender Sports Exclusion Bills

Students Tell Texas Attorney General that Racial Discrimination in School is Real – IDRA Applauds Students Speaking Out Against Texas’ New Classroom Censorship Law, Knowledge is Power, September 29, 2021

Student STEM Talks: Students presented at the opening session of the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice Convening in San Antonio with 484 industry, education and community leaders at the STEM ecosystems conference. After the panel discussion, each student presented a STEM Talk, March 2020

What does MAS mean to you? – Mexican American Studies student speaks at IDRA’s Annual La Semana del Nino – Parent Institute about participating in a MAS Literature Course at Stevens High School.

Recent Podcast Interviews

IDRA Digital Ambassador Students Lead Community Technology Training – Classnotes Podcast 245, October 4, 2024

The Law in Education – Students Press for Affirmative Action – Podcast Episode 229, October 26, 2022

STEM Journeys of Two Young Women of Color – Part 1 – Podcast Episode 218,  January 24, 2022, and STEM Journeys of Two Young Women of Color – Part 2 – Podcast Episode 219, February 7, 2022

The Law in Education – Students Press for Affirmative Action – Podcast Episode 229, January 24, 2022

Students Want Schools to Teach Inclusive Truth – Podcast Episode 213, October 29, 2021

STEM Students Describe Life in a COVID-19 World – Podcast Episode 201,  May 27, 2020

Meet the Chief Science Officer Students Who Brought the Program to Texas – Podcast Episode 199, November 26, 2019

Student Activists in High School, IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 191, featuring Melivia Mujia and Evany Gonzales, May 21, 2019

Recent Articles

Adrian and Zariah Reflect on Their Activism and Concerns, March 17, 2025

From Petition to Podium – Students Urge School Board to Protect Immigrant Student Safety, March 17, 2025

New Data Hub Spotlights School Discipline of Black Girls in Georgia, by Nickell Brown & Makiah Lyons, J.D., February 2025

Books Are for Learning, Not Banning, by Grace Ding, High School Junior, September 2024

Students Deserve Religious Holidays Off, by Inayah Naqvi, High School Senior, September 2024

Addressing Teacher Burnout and More – Reflections from My Teacher Survey, by Diego Aranguiz Mourgues, High School Senior, September 2024

School Districts Must Prioritize their Students’ Mental Health, by Aniyah Turner, College Freshman, September 2024

Stop School District Funding Injustice, by Mikel Quesada, High School Senior, September 2024

Since I Became a Tutor, by Michelle Villegas, High School Junior, September 2024

Mexican American Studies – A Deep Look by High School Students, by Marcela Hernández, Jonas Lokensgard & Hannah Rosales, February 2024

Students Speak Out Against Classroom Censorship, Terrence Wilson, J.D., March 17, 2022

Students Advocate and Influence Culturally-rich Education in their Schools, Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed., September 2023

33 Years Later, Tough on Crime Still Bad for Students, by Makiah Lyons, Knowledge is Power, February 24, 2023

School Safety Requires Listening, by Hawaii Guerin, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

Mexican American Studies is American History, by Josué Peralta de Jesús, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

We Need a Well-Rounded Education – An Open Letter to Lawmakers, by Kennedy Moore, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

LGBTQ+ Inclusive Education is Not Dangerous, Nor is it a Difficult Feat, by Manav Lund, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

Policing Students Through Dress Codes Needs to Stop, by Ryan Cyrus, High School Senior, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

School Support Systems Help Students Succeed, by Shreya Selvaraju, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

Equip Schools to Support Student Mental Health, by Tatiana Martínez Alvarez, IDRA Newsletter, October 2022

Dress Codes: A Racist, Sexist History and Why They Must be Changed, by Adam Shelburn, High School Junior, IDRA Newsletter, September 2022

School Safety Requires Listening, by Hawaii Guerin, High School Senior, IDRA Newsletter, September 2022

Student Reflections on Schooling During COVID-19 – Student-Led Research Project Explores Effects of the Pandemic on Students and Schooling, Report, by Jacqueline Campos, Monica Cruz, Alejo Peña Soto, Fatimah Rasul & Ana Ramón, IDRA, August 2021

Steps for Helping Students Become Activists – A Teen’s Advice, Melivia Mujia, IDRA Newsletter, August 2019

Contact

5815 Callaghan Road, Suite 101
San Antonio, TX 78228

Phone: 210-444-1710
Fax: 210-444-1714