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Much of the literature regarding Black youth experiences in schools considers the effects of racism and takes up inquiry through deficit views. Yet, to understand how to shift the system of schooling to provide equitable, liberatory learning experiences, it is critical to center Black children’s voices and perspectives. In the current study, we partnered with eleven Black elementary youth and their mothers to explore their dreams for re-imagining schools. We identified four themes related to school improvement from a child-centered, abolitionist lens. Our findings highlight the need to increase opportunities for youth voice in scholarship and practice, and join existing conversations that see education as the practice of liberation and freedom.

Background: Knowledge brokering by intermediary organizations includes knowledge distillation processes (e.g., synthesis, translation). Aims and objectives: This article explores how an educational intermediary performs research distillation when creating virtual knowledge reservoirs for educators. Methods: The authors use qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, coded to consensus, and thematically analyzed. Findings: During synthesis, intermediaries apply a "research lens" to evaluate the credibility of the evidence. During translation, they rely on their experience as educators to share evidence in a non-academic voice and generate "turnkey" strategies. Discussion and conclusion: The article considers the knowledge brokering pipeline fallacy and examines the potential of ongoing processes for improving the effectiveness of intermediaries with the aim of diminishing research-practice and research-policy gaps in education.