AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community

This study examines demographic and educational characteristics of Pacific Islander students in Washington State’s public schools, with a focus on Samoans. Using statewide and Seattle Public Schools data, it uncovers disparities that hinder high school completion and college attendance. Findings suggest that Pacific Islander students in Washington are at a great disadvantage with lower levels of academic performance and school engagement. Samoans perceive discrimination, an uncaring school climate, and generational conflicts as major obstacles to their educational fulfillment. Disaggregated data for Pacific Islanders and case studies of their ethnic groups using qualitative methods provide a more accurate picture of their educational experiences.

Language minority students, many of whom come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, confront multiple obstacles to academic success and advancement. Yet the intersection between language minority students’ K-12 experiences and their potential to obtain higher education remains understudied. This paper examines how a set of institutional processes and practices— state-mandated classification, testing, and tracking—operates to systematically limit language minority students’ access to college-preparatory curricula. Using data from interviews, this study investigates Hmong American high school and college students’ experiences in English language development and mainstream academic tracks, as well as their perceptions regarding access to college preparatory courses. The evidence suggests that students tracked in English Language Development curricula not only have limited access to key resources, such as college preparatory courses, but also hold lower aspirations about college, compared to those who are in college preparatory tracks. The limitations of this study and implications for future research are discussed.

This study examines the attainment of the bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering among Asian American students, including those who are immigrant children and children with immigrant parents. Using data from National Education Longitudinal Studies: 1988-2000, this study finds that Asian Americans have the highest rate of expectation for majoring in natural science and engineering. After they attend college, they have the highest rate of persistence. Drawing from Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and habitus, this article finds that Asian American students are disadvantaged in cultural capital compared with other racial groups from the similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and they tend to formulate certain negative self-perceptions associated with their inclination towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. These findings provide further evidence to challenge the model minority thesis, which suggests the choice and the attainment of STEM degrees by Asian American youth is entirely a success story.

This practitioners’ essay is about the programmatic and pedagogical development of Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP), a collaborative teacher pipeline that spans kindergarten to the doctoral level. As a “counter-pipeline,” PEP has been able to “grow our own” critical educators and provide a more critical and socially engaged education for all of its students. Since the fall of 2001, PEP has grown to provide services at five public schools with over forty teacher apprentices. This essay aims to provide PEP’s story as a resource for academics and practitioners in the hopes that more partnerships between the university, schools, and the community can be built to address the inequities and gaps that are prevalent in education, especially in the experiences of youth of color.