The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population continues to obfuscate the discourse on diversity and higher education institutions. The historical and contemporary experiences of AAPIs in higher education clearly indicate that their presence has influenced and reinforced the importance of diversity in educational environments. To contextualize AAPIs’ participation in postsecondary education, this monograph provides: A historical overview of the “model minority” stereotype The affirmative action debate and AAPIs Their involvement in the education pipeline A discussion of their experiences in college. Implications for future research, practice, and policy are further discussed. Educators, administrators, faculty, policy makers, and researchers who are concerned with diversity issues and the AAPI population will find this monograph an engaging and valuable resource.

While Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are growing faster than any other racial group in the U.S., they are all but invisible in higher education, and generally ignored in the research literature, and thus greatly misrepresented and misunderstood.This book presents disaggregated data to unmask important academic achievement and other disparities within the population, and offers new insights that promote more authentic understandings of the realities masked by the designation of AAPI. In offering new perspectives, conceptual frameworks, and empirical research by seasoned and emerging scholars, this book both makes a significant contribution to the emerging knowledge base on AAPIs, and identifies new directions for future scholarship on this population. Its overarching purpose is to provide policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in higher education with the information they need to serve an increasingly important segment of their student populations.In dispelling such misconceptions as that Asian Americans are not really racial minorities, the book opens up the complexity of the racial and ethnic minorities within this group, and identifies the unique challenges that require the attention of anyone in higher education concerned with student access and success, as well as the pipeline to the professoriate.

What drives Asian American youth to pursue excellence in higher education so relentlessly? This volume investigates the motivations, abilities, and achievements of the so called educational "model minority" from native born, fourth generation Japanese Americans to newly arrived Southeast Asian refugees. The educational performance of Asian Americans is one of today's fastest growing minority groups enrolled in higher education programs. This unique resource integrates empirical data from national testing programs, longitudinal studies and academic and extracurricular records along with the higher educational and career aspirations reported by Asian American students. It is the definitive guide for social scientists and educators by informing them of the reliability and validity of standard admissions tests for assessing the potential of Asian Americans students and their subgroups for success in higher education and careers.

Voices of Asian Americans in Higher Education: Unheard Voices is a unique and historical book. Asian Americans are often portrayed as “model minority,” yet their personal and educational experiences are often unheard. In this book, 10 Asian American educators and scholars present realistic pictures of America’s higher education using personal narratives. The contributors in this book come from different regions and teach in different colleges and universities; and coincidentally, they all endure the “outsider” category formerly as students and now as professors and leaders. This “outsider” status can be emotionally overwhelming and psychologically unnerving. This status hampers opportunities for Asian Americans to grow and maximize their fullest potential. Though they develop different strategies to address their “outsider” label, it does not make it comfortable. But, time and time again, they have proven that they can succeed! In this technological age, we must value unending truths as we educate ourselves and others. We hope that this book will be an educational and informational resource for students, administrators, and faculty in higher education and also educational policy makers and stakeholders.

Asian-American Education: Historical Background and Current Realities fills a gap in the study of the social and historical experiences of Asians in U.S. schools. It is the first historical work to provide American readers with information about highly individual ethnic groups rather than viewing distinctly different groups as one vague, global entity such as "Asians." The people who populate each chapter are portrayed as active participants in their history rather than as passive victims of their culture. Each of the twelve country-specific chapters begins with a description of the kind of education received in the home country, including how widely available it was, how equal or unequal the society was, and what were the circumstances under which the emigration of children from the country occurred. The latter part of each of these chapters deals with the education these children have received in the United States. Throughout the book, instead of dwelling on a relatively narrow range of children who perform spectacularly well, the author tries to discover the educational situation typical among average students. The order of chapters is roughly chronological in terms of when the first sizable numbers of immigrants came from a specific country.

Asian American Students in Higher Education offers the first comprehensive analysis and synthesis of existing theory and research related to Asian American students’ experiences in postsecondary education. Providing practical and insightful recommendations, this sourcebook covers a range of topics including critical historical and demographic contexts, the complexity of Asian American student identities, and factors that facilitate and hinder Asian American students’ success in college. The time has come for institutions of higher education to develop more holistic and authentic understandings of this significant and rapidly growing population, and this volume will help educators acquire deeper and more intricate knowledge of Asian American college students’ experiences. This resource is vital for college educators interested in better serving Asian American students in their institutions.