This digest reviews available data on Asians and Pacific Islanders (API) to assess their presence in the teaching profession. Although they are a rapidly expanding part of both the population and school enrollments, APIs constitute only one percent of all teachers, and are largely absent from teacher preparation programs, with their mean registration in such programs at about one percent. A national study conducted by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (ACTE)/Metropolitan Life (1990) surveyed 472 students from 42 colleges of education on their teacher preparation experiences. Only 18 API students were included in the sample. Of those in teacher education programs, only one-third aspired to Master's degrees, as compared to 41 percent of Hispanics, 54 percent of Blacks, and 70 percent of Whites. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1994 show that APIs also constitute only 1.5 percent of teacher education faculty. APIs do receive doctorates in other non-education fields at disproportionately high rates. Understanding why APIs do not see teaching as an attractive profession, and the barriers that might prevent them from teaching is important for the effort to build a truly inclusive teaching force. (Contains 13 references.) (SLD)