Current methods of collecting and reporting data on Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) student populations conceal significant disparities in educational experiences and outcomes. said UCLA professor of education Robert Teranishi, who recently released a report produced in partnership with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the Educational Testing Service.
“The inability to represent the interests of the most marginalized and vulnerable AAPI subgroups is a problem in the community,” said Teranishi, who teaches in the Social Sciences and Comparative Education Division of the education school. “In fact, in a lot of ways, it’s a key civil rights issue for the AAPI community because aggregated data render many sub-groups invisible.”The report, “iCount: A Data Quality Movement for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Higher Education,” was released at a national symposium hosted last summer by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Education, a project for which Professor Teranishi is principal ivestigator.
The goal of this work is to examine higher education data systems, identify models of successful institutional data practices and build political will to gather data that offer a more accurate rendering of the AAPI student population.
Teranishi, who is the inaugural Morgan and Helen Chu Chair in Asian American Studies, said that his research team is now doing more regionally based work to look at AAPI students in ethnic population centers in the Pacific Northwest, the South, the Midwest as well as within Ivy League institutions.
One example of why this work is so important and timely can be found among emerging AAPI immigrant communities, he pointed out.
“America is home to a large concentration of refugees from Asia,” said Teranishi, co-director of UCLA's Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education. “Immigrants from Burma, Nepal and Bhutan, for example, make up two-thirds of the refugees coming to the U.S.; close to half a million have come over in the last 10 years alone. They have very low levels of educational attainment among the adults and often face unique language barriers in schools that aren’t equipped to serve them. A lot of people don’t even know they exist.”
Teranishi said that the stereotype of Asians as the “model minority” has obscured any real knowledge about AAPI student populations, with a blanket assumption of success. “Any treatment of a population that’s driven by stereotypes and assumptions is a problem,” he said. “The perception of universal success among AAPI students results in many students being overlooked and underserved.”
The researcher said that it's critical that we create an educational system that's responsive to future students.
"The antiquated systems that we have for collecting and reporting data are really designed for who our students were many, many years ago," he said. "A lot of policy decisions are based on assumptions and stereotypes. That is why the iCount movement is so important. We’re trying to get a sense of who our students are, what are their needs, their educational trajectory, and how can institutions better serve these students.”
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