Making the Invisible, Visible: Reducing Inequity through Data Disaggregation for Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Students 

One of the predominant practices in schools regarding Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) students involves the aggregation of data. This approach often homogenizes AANHPI students into a monolithic group, which not only contributes to perpetuating stereotypes such as the model minority myth but also negatively impacts AANHPI students by limiting their access to appropriate attention and support for success. This further leads to the exclusion of AANHPI students from conversations about equity, opportunity gaps, and the challenges they may encounter in schools. To address this, we will explore how data disaggregation can contribute to reducing inequalities for AANHPI youth. We will investigate AANHPI students’ educational experiences across three critical areas: inequalities in representation, inequality of outcomes, and inequality of opportunity. The findings will allow us to uncover hidden disparities and provide a more nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by different AANHPI subgroups, ultimately encouraging school districts to adopt data disaggregation practices to better serve AANHPI students who have been invisible in the data. By focusing on ethnicity as our dimension of inequality, the project emphasizes the need for disaggregating data, holding the potential to alleviate educational inequalities among and within AANHPI students—a group that has long been marginalized and neglected due to aggregate data practices.

Dr. Xinyi Mao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida. 

Dr. Jia Liang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University.

Dr. Stephanie Dodman is an Associate Professor in the School of Education, College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.

Behind “Model Minorities”: A systematic review of literature on Asian American and Pacific Islander students

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are frequently portrayed as model minorities, perpetuating a stereotype that oversimplifies and homogenizes them in educational research and policies. This oversimplified portrayal obscures the diverse challenges experienced by AAPI students during their schooling. Drawing on the AsianCrit framework, we critically review two decades of empirical research on AAPI students’ schooling experiences in the United States, identifying a total of 61 peer-reviewed articles. The findings illuminate the heterogeneity and complexity of AAPI students’ schooling experiences, highlighting variations based on ethnicity and struggles resulting from imposed stereotypes. By shedding light on the challenges and hardships faced by AAPI students during their school years, this study aims to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of their experiences. This understanding can guide policymakers and educational leaders in developing more effective support systems for this diverse and underserved population.

Dr. Xinyi Mao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida. 

Dr. Soobin Choi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership. 

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Students’ Data Equity

Despite growing efforts to promote data equity and justice, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students’ educational performance remains largely overlooked. Using data from the Los Angeles Unified School District and QuantCrit framework, this study explores NHPI students’ academic performance and schooling experiences. Findings reveal that NHPI students show significantly lower academic outcomes and are less likely to enroll in Advanced Placement courses or take the SAT compared to their peers. These disparities highlight systemic barriers and underscore the need for inclusive equity and justice efforts that specifically address the unique challenges NHPI students face in educational settings. 

Dr. Xinyi Mao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida. 

Dr. Jia Liang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University.