National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Applauds U.S. Department of Education for Grants toward Better Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Data

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) thanks the U.S. Department of Education for awarding $836,000 to Minnesota, Washington state and Hawaii that will go toward addressing achievement gaps for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students. These grants will impact approximately one million students across the three states.

“The Department of Education’s grants are incredibly significant in addressing barriers to achievement,” said NCAPA National Director Christopher Kang. “Data disaggregation is one of our top priorities because the needs of AAPI students are far too often unknown and unfulfilled. Data allows us to see our diversity and address where we need to fill the gaps. We thank the department and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for their continued advocacy for our communities.”

“We thank the US Department of Education for recognizing the need for better data to ensure all Asian American and Pacific Islander students succeed in school,” said Rita Pin Ahrens, director of education policy at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and co-chair of NCAPA’s education committee. “With these grants, schools will be able to better pinpoint and address achievement gaps that are typically masked by our current data collection methods, but have been known to our communities for some time. We will continue to work with the department to ensure that the students who need our help the most are visible in our public school system and have access to resources that will result in their success.”

These grants were part of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Data Disaggregation Initiative, announced by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. in May 2016. This initiative aims to better account for the diversity in cultures and languages within the AAPI community and the wide variances in the academic performances of those students. The grant program will award up to $1 million per year for five years to states.

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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 35 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.