Resource guides published in March by AAPI Data, a research and policy organization based at the University of California, Berkeley’s Asian American Research Center, offer a glimpse of K-12 and higher education trends among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities.
Both national and state-level guides drawing on recent data and findings are available.
National findings
According to the analysis, 7 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander students ages 12-18 in the U.S. say they have been called hate-related words while at school — most commonly related to their race/ethnicity. “About one in six (16 percent) of Asian American teens (ages 12-17) reported being bullied, picked on, or excluded by other youth in the past 12 months,” the guide reads.
Besides Latino students (29 percent), Asian American and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NPHIs) were the largest groups of English learners (ELs) enrolled at public elementary schools, according to National Center for Education Statistics data from fall 2021 included in the analysis. “These account for almost one in five Asian Americans (19 percent) and NHPI students (19 percent),” AAPI Data found. “The most commonly reported home languages of Asian American EL students include Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Urdu, Korean, and Tagalog.”
In the U.S., “over 1.6 million Asian Americans and over 41,000 NPHIs have less than a high school degree; these account for almost one in eight Asian Americans and NHPIs (both at 12 percent),” according to AAPI Data. Nationally, 11 percent of residents have less than a high school diploma.
Asian Americans have the highest rate of educational attainment of any race with 57 percent (more than 7 million people) having a bachelor’s degree or higher — far surpassing the national rate of 35 percent. Of NHPI individuals, 19 percent (about 70,000 people) reached the same academic milestone, although 33 percent have some college experience.
“Among Asian Americans, the highest proportion of those with the lowest levels of educational attainment include Bhutanese, Burmese, Mien, and Cambodian. Those with the highest level of educational attainment include Taiwanese, Asian Indian, Kazakh, and Mongolian,” according to the guide. “Among NHPIs, the highest proportion of those with the lowest levels of educational attainment include Marshallese. Those with the highest level of educational attainment include Chamorro and Fijian.”
Public opinion data on a range of education-centered topics is also covered, one key finding being that “direct engagement with the local school board is low among AANHPI communities, as it is with the general public. Just 13 percent of AAPI adults report they attended a meeting and 18 percent reached out to a school board member in the last five years.”
In a 2024 poll, the majority of AANHPI adults were in support of teaching historical topics like slavery and racism in K-12 schools as well as lessons on the history of AAPI communities. Additionally, “56 percent of AANHPIs adults oppose individual school boards restricting specific subjects and classroom discussions and 35 percent feel local school boards have too much influence on curricula. Nearly half believe parents (47 percent) and teachers (48 percent) have too little influence on public schools’ curricula.”
California
The California-specific guide focuses largely on higher education, but AAPI Data found that five Asian languages (Mandarin, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Punjabi and Philippine) were among the top 10 most spoken by EL students in TK-12.
Regarding educational attainment, 11 percent of Asian Americans (more than 480,000 people) and 13 percent of NHPI individuals (more than 11,000 people) have less than a high school diploma — below the state average of 15 percent.
Again, Asian Americans were more likely than peers in all other racial groups to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher at 56 percent (far exceeding the statewide rate of 36 percent). Twenty-two percent of NHPI residents achieved the same level of education though 34 percent have some college experience.
“Among the most populous Asian groups in California, those with the lowest levels of educational attainment include Cambodian and Vietnamese. Those with the highest level of educational attainment include Taiwanese, Asian Indian, and Korean,” according to the guide. “Among NHPI groups in California, Samoans and Tongans have slightly lower rates of college attainment than Chamorro and Native Hawaiian.”
Overall, 85 percent of Asian American and 54 percent of NHPI high schoolers enroll in college within a year of graduating high school.
