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In the heart of Cuba, New Mexico, an impactful collaboration aims to confront systemic inequities in education by centering student voices. Launched in the summer of 2021, the collaboration brings together �鶹��Ƶ researchers and Cuba Independent School District (CISD) students, teachers and stakeholders during an annual six-week summer program focused on educational equity. CISD serves the diverse town of Cuba, along with several neighboring rural communities and Navajo Nation chapters. Cuba lies near the western edge of the Santa Fe National Forest, about 80 miles northwest of Albuquerque.

In a collaborative co-design process, the CU Boulder Research Hub for Youth Organizing faculty and graduate students worked with local school leaders and teachers to develop the summer curriculum. Led by School of Education researchers Michelle Renée Valladares, Vandna Sinha, Kate Baca, and Revaline Nez, this profound collaboration confronts barriers facing CISD's diverse student body. 

The journey began with a pilot summer program, in which the CU Boulder team, plus colleagues Adam York, Matt Garcia and Siomara Valladares, engaged middle and high school students in youth participatory action research on educational equity within CISD schools. Youth participatory action research is an approach where youth identify pressing issues in their communities and engage in research to help inform social change and action in their lives, communities, and the institutions intended to serve them. Students in Cuba diligently collected data and elevated recommendations to administrators, spurring policy changes still reverberating today. 

Each year brought fresh insights and challenges. The first summer examined educational opportunities within CISD schools, with students and researchers studying the past and present in hopes of developing plans for a more inclusive future. Subsequent programs explored language, cultural representation and student identities in relation to the land, by examining pressing local issues like oil and gas extraction, environmental justice and decolonization.

After the first summer, students recommended improved mental health services, student support groups, accessible transportation and extracurricular activities. This student-driven research led the district to implement policy changes to address these needs. In the second summer, students examined food justice, collecting data that showed limited healthy, affordable food access. They subsequently started a community garden and farmers market to increase food security. 

Seeing the need for more reciprocal research practices, Nez reached out to Diné students, families and community leaders. Her outreach and open dialogue laid the foundation for an evolving collaboration rooted in trust, mutual understanding and elevating previously marginalized voices. 

Last summer’s focus on language and cultural representation sparked greater integration of students' diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds into the school curriculum through translanguaging training for teachers, which helped provide educators with pedagogical supports for students moving between languages. The partnership has evolved to include teacher development and leadership coaching. The research continues expanding theoretical frameworks and challenging existing narratives – from teacher identity to student leadership. By pushing back against limiting beliefs, the project empowers educators and learners to see themselves as capable leaders who can actively shape their educational experiences and communities. It is particularly crucial to focus on rural school districts, especially those serving Indigenous populations, as these communities have historically been underserved and marginalized. By centering the voices of the community, the project shapes a more inclusive educational landscape, validating their perspectives and highlighting the transformative power of their actions. 

Navigating challenges, supporting educators and nurturing youth leadership, the team models open communication, intentional reflection and community-centered praxis. While funding and capacity issues remain, the partnership has expanded possibilities for students, with educators reporting youth displaying greater confidence, leadership abilities and seeing college as newly imaginable despite limited exposure to recruiters and campuses. 

Though complex, initiatives elevating student and community wisdom can drive meaningful change in rural education. By centering voices often left out of policy decisions, this project offers lessons for expanding equity across marginalized schools nationwide. As co-lead researchers and doctoral students Baca and Nez reflect, their understanding of the local context has been key for building authentic community relationships, uplifting youth experiences and confronting systemic barriers across CISD’s richly diverse student body. 

While uncertainties lie ahead, the partnership remains committed to this ongoing journey of collaborative discovery, action and positive transformation. Additionally, this partnership may shift mindsets on conceptualizing rural student populations, which are often presumed predominantly white. Centering the experiences of rural students of color in CISD could have ripple effects on educational equity across rural schools nationally. 

Baca emphasized the complex value of partnership work, stating the partnership “is ongoing, relational, and messy but it's really important to find what is generative for both partners and have transparency in that.” This program's impacts show that valuing student voices and community expertise can help bridge divides and lead to humanizing, relevant education. This summer, Nez will advance research on translanguaging while continuing to support partners in Cuba by developing a guide for teachers to help them implement the recommendations formulated from previous summer programs.

This program has been supported by the School of Education Place-Based Partnership Initiative, the Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE) giving circle, and a CU Boulder Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship grant. This article was written by Iman Fagan as part of graduate research assistantship focused on collaborative partnerships between School of Education researchers and community partners working toward transformative change in education.