It’s hard to ignore the data when the data is in the room

A growing body of research demonstrates the benefits of engaging students as partners to improve tertiary education. Yet, more research is needed to understand how students can support critical transformations outside of the classroom context. In this qualitative study, we explored how a networked improvement community (NIC) engaged students as partners toward critically transforming introductory tertiary mathematics courses in spring 2023. Using an open coding process, we analyzed field notes, interviews, and journals from NIC members to develop themes describing the NIC’s positioning of students. We compared these themes to Holen et al.’s (2021) framework on student-institutional partnerships. Findings reveal four positions students may adopt in critical transformation efforts: democratic participant, apprentice, consultant, and beneficiary. This study contributes to the field’s understanding of ways students can influence larger structural and cultural systems that impact student success, as well as challenges inherent in this work.