This is a compilation of five brief commentaries on Federal educational policy as it relates to Asian and Pacific Americans. In the first, former Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink stresses the importance of organized political action in overcoming problems related to discrimination and economic and educational disadvantages. In the second paper, an overview of education in American Samoa is presented by Fofo I.F. Sunia, a delegate to the United States Congress. The third paper, by Allan L. Seid, a member of the California State Board of Education, reviews educational influences of social change and growing cultural and ethnic pride in the educational process for Asian Americans. In the fourth paper, the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Education, Gladys Chang Keith Hardy, discusses the effects of educational research on the formation of Federal educational policy. The fifth paper of the collection is by Congressman Norman Y. Mineta, and concerns the current political climate in Washington,D.C., how it will affect programs related to Asian and Pacific Americans, and how this group can influence future programs and policies. (GC)