They have locked themselves inside school buildings for days on end to protest discrimination.

They have called into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s weekly radio show to demand action on integrating schools, and have even followed him to Iowa to confront him about arrests and suspensions for students of color.

Education politics in New York City is often controlled by well-connected lobbyists, wealthy benefactors and crisis communications professionals.

But recently, the most prominent — and sometimes most effective — movements for change in the nation’s largest school system have been created and fueled by those with the most at stake: students.

A new crop of student groups, led by highly organized teenagers who have staged major rallies and protests, have helped define a swirling citywide debate about how race and class exclude vulnerable students from accessing all city schools have to offer.