“Knowledge is power,” said Milani Pelley, a member of the African American Success Advisory Committee (AASAC) and parent in the Berkeley Unified School District community, “AASAC members are provided with district information, reports, and data that is not necessarily made readily available to the general public. To share and spread that information is a powerful tool.”
The BUSD Board of Education created AASAC on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, and the committee has been providing support for Black students in BUSD for the past two and a half years. The purpose of this committee is to focus on the services, policies, and more that affect Black students at Berkeley High School and other Berkeley schools. Its members, including BUSD staff, students, and family, work hard to make sure that all Black students receive support and assistance when needed. The committee ensures that all students reach their full potential within social and academic areas. Meetings occur every few months, and in each meeting, the committee listens and works with families in BUSD, providing them with information they may need about the African American Success Framework (AASF).
The AASAC’s overall goal is to help bridge the equity gap through a process of an “Intervention tiered support system.” Further, the framework of AASF and the work of AASAC doesn’t only benefit Black students, it affects and helps all students. “(The AASAC is) thinking about actual practices that actually benefit African Americans but end up benefiting all students, and particularly students who have been historically underrepresented or underserved,” said Enikia Ford Morthel, BUSD’s superintendent who has been working with the AASAC.
One of the most important things the AASAC does is directly impact students in a way that can make a lasting impact. Erin Holland, a member and BUSD parent, said, “AASAC advocates using the AASF framework tools, resources, and parent relationships to engage our district leadership in advocating for the long-term sustainability of our children’s success,” Holland said, “By sharing our goals, experiences, and expectations, we amplify the voices of students and families in our broader school community.” The committee teaches students to make sure their voices are heard and that they are advocated for, which is one of the most important things in high school and, later, adulthood.
Making sure students have their voices heard is only one of the many benefits that the committee has created so far. They have put much effort into small things that improve Black students’ engagement and education. Data has shown this as accurate, members say. “(We’ve had) the opportunity to view the data and reports reflecting increased student progress through visual graphs showing a rise in student achievement in both math and literacy,” Holland said.
BUSD needs the AASAC to ensure an equal and fair education between students. “The educational system in the United States was not created for African American students to achieve, therefore there must always be spaces to review, monitor, evaluate, and imagine outside what has already been created,” Pelley said. In a study done by the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development, Rutgers Graduate of School Education, and Albert Shanker Institute, Black students are twice as likely to be underfunded than their white classmates and three and a half times more likely to go to school in chronically underfunded districts. Additionally, data has shown that Black students across the nation are not as commonly educated in socio-emotional well-being and information necessary for achievement, while simultaneously receiving less classroom assistance. The AASAC is one of many organizations and groups in Berkeley that work to change and affect the lives of Black students for the better. Ford Morthel shared some ways that the district is combating this include finding the right ways to have interventions, creating college programs, and making sure teachers know how to teach reading and other subjects in the most beneficial way.
The AASAC only just started in 2022 but has made a world of change in its three years. It is only a start to the hard work that families and the District feel is necessary to ensure equality. “The idea was that that framework would be a three year framework. And it doesn’t mean that that work will not continue — the work will definitely continue,” Ford Morthel said.