Asians/Pacific Islanders: Education Issues
 

Education Issues Community Issues Demographics

The API community faces educational issues similar to other minority groups, including the need for adequate funding for schools serving minority and disadvantaged students, as well as other issues with a special impact on the community:

• Student achievement gaps need to be aggressively addressed. For example, the percentage of APIs age 25 and older with a high school education in the 2000 census ranged, depending on the Asian American ethnic group, from half the national average of 19.6 percent to nearly three times the national average.

• There is a need for more educational research focusing on individual API ethnic groups in order to better understand how each group of students is experiencing school and what steps need to be taken to support each group.

• With multiple languages spoken within the API community, there is a need for greater accommodation of English language learner students on assessment tests and in the classroom, as well as the allocation of more resources to involve parents who are non-native English speakers.

• A greater effort should be made to recruit and retain API educators. While over 4 percent of the K-12 student population is API, APIs constitute less than 2 percent of the teaching population.

• Programs should be increased to prepare educators to work with diverse students, and API history, culture, and issues should be covered in school curriculums.

NEA Resources

Student Achievement

Dropout Prevention: A Tale of Three Sisters
There is one fundamental question for the Pele sisters this year: Will they stay in school, or won’t they? Dive into our first story in a series on dropout prevention. (NEA Today, November 2007)

From Fishing Village to Tourist Town
Immigrant families experience culture clash, causing impressionable students to drop school. (NEA Today, November 2007)

Newcomer Centers Help Asian Pacific Islander Students Transition into American Public Schools
Shirley Lum teaches English for Second-Language Learners (ESLLs) at McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. A child of immigrants—her parents are Chinese—Lum is well aware of the struggles newcomers encounter, but her classroom is filled with students facing even higher hurdles than a language barrier. ('NEA Today,' May 2007)

NEA Report Debunks Stereotype That All Asian-American Students Are Succeeding (PDF)
Discussions of closing the achievement gaps often overlook Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students. Many people believe AAPI kids always do well in school, but our ground breaking report offers disturbing data on the widespread underachievement of some groups -- especially Southeast Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. Check out "A Report on the Status of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Education: Beyond the 'Model Minority' Stereotype." (2005)

'Focus On' Series

Asian/Pacific Islanders Beyond Black and White: API Students and School Desegregation   (PDF)
Like other ethnic minorities in the United States, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (API) have been direct beneficiaries of the Brown decision. APIs have also been direct participants in the struggle for equal education. (2007-08) 

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (APIs) - Out of the Past, in the Present, Toward the Future (PDF)
This year's report gives a comprehensive look at issues facing these groups including their growth in the U.S. population, the diversity within their groups and their experiences in this country. Additionally we examine the impact of achievement gaps on academic success, and APIs working in our public schools. (2006-07)

Closing Achievement Gaps, Asian/Pacific Islanders (API) (PDF)
API students represent nearly 50 ethnic groups, over 100 language groups, and various religions and histories. Some descended from immigrants, are recently-arrived refugees from war-torn countries, are native to Hawaiian lands, and more are growing up in mixed-race families. The "model minority" stereotype applied to some API students masks  educational barriers faced by others. (2004-05)

Lesson Ideas

Celebrating Asian and Pacific-Island Heritage
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated each May to commemorate the arrival (in May 1843) of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States. Recognition began in June 1977 when Representatives Frank Horton (New York) and Norman Y. Mineta (California) called for Asian/Pacific Heritage Week. Hawaii senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both bills passed and in 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed the resolution. President George H. W. Bush in 1990 expanded the celebration from a week to a month.

Feng Shui for the Classroom
Creating a Focused Learning Environment

Presenting Asian Folktales
Transform Asian folktales into Reader's Theater scripts. (Grades 2-12)

Build Listening Skills With Asian Folktales
Use Asian folktales to test students' listening comprehension. (Grades K-8)

Asian Americans: Where Do They Come From?
Grades 3-12 learn about some of the places from which Asian Americans come.

Famous Asian Americans
Match the names of famous Asian Americans to their accomplishments. (Grades 3-12)

Interdisciplinary Activity Ideas from PBS TeacherSource
Look at the Asian America/Pacific Islander community through multiple disciplines, with on-air programming, activity ideas and online resources.

Asian American/Pacific Islander Activities
PBS helps you look at the Asian America/Pacific Islander community through multiple disciplines, with on-air programming, activity ideas and online resources.

Asian American Booklist
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May), NEA's Read Across America has released a bilingual reading list of titles appropriate for K-12 students.

Asian History Resources
Preparing a unit on Asian history? Well, here are some Web sites that may help you.

Member Profiles

Finding Her Voice
College student Lieu Tran organizes her peers for political action. (Tomorrow's Teachers, Spring 2004)

Retired Pennsylvania English Teacher Wilson Foust Calls Students A Testament to Tenacity
His college-bound students, mostly Vietnamese, faced many obstacles. There are 40 tones in their language explains Foust. Different tones can be applied to change the meaning of a word. "Because these tones are picked up in childhood," he says, "it blocks spelling, reading, and writing (in English)." According to Foust, it takes Asian children who come directly to America around the eighth grade about 10 to 15 years to develop competency in English. (This Active Life, September 2002)

Carving A New Life in Wood
When Hawaii member Herb Kaneko retired from his high school woodshop and vocational education career in 1995, he didn’t want his years of training and love for woodworking to fade away. "I’ve always loved making beautiful pieces with great care," says Kaneko. "Retirement has finally given me the chance and the time to do so."
(This Active Life, September 2001)

Resources from Other Organizations

Asian American Students Struggling under NCLB (PDF)
The method used under NCLB to classify Asian students fails to recognize that Asian-American learners are not homogeneous in terms of academic performance. Despite the "model minority" myth, some groups -- especially ELLs aren't getting the resources they need to succeed, according to a new Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund report. Find out why the group supports more native-language testing in schools where certain Asian ethnic subgroups exist in large numbers. (May 2008)
 

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