Educational Data, Research Methods, Policies, and Practices that Matter for AAPIs

Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) have faced three major conundrums in addressing their educational issues. First is the problem of stereotypes. Asian Americans are seen publically as a “model minority,” whereby, despite contrary evidence, all Asian Americans are deemed academically successful. NHPIs are made “invisible,” lumped with Asian Americans, or discounted as distinct entities. These stereotypes contribute to the benign neglect they suffer by educators, researchers, and policy makers, which results in limited data and research on their education, and the unmet academic needs of segments of these populations. Second, even though the U.S. Census Bureau collects data on twenty-four Asian American ethnic categories, they are treated statistically and socially as a homogenous group, oftentimes combined with twenty-four ethnic categories of NHPIs, in much other data collection and research information. Asian American or Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) aggregate...