Conventional wisdom has long held that Asian American students are conscientious, brainy, and successful, and a look at the statistics makes it clear that many are. These students routinely post the highest scores on California's standardized tests, are most likely to graduate from high school, and have the highest rates of eligibility for…

Although an impressive number of Americans whose ancestors are from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam ("Southeast Asian Americans") have achieved tremendous success in education, a disproportionate number have found it difficult to succeed academically. Yet their difficulties are largely invisible to policymakers, who tend to look only to the…

Hispanics are the largest and youngest ethnic group in the United States. Moreover, young Hispanic children make up approximately 80 percent of the U.S. English language learner population. They are a heterogeneous group, born both inside and outside the United States and having origins in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, South America, and the…

This article describes the challenges and recommendations that have been made to ensure that Asian American students with limited English proficiency are assimilated into the educational mainstream. The need for Asian staff, improved research efforts, secondary school programs, teacher assistance, and parent education are discussed. (JL)

Lawmakers have made the closing of racial and ethnic academic achievement gaps an acknowledged priority of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. So far the research has largely explored common factors explaining why Black and Latino students generally lag behind Whites and Asian Americans. Lorretta Chavez, a public school teacher and a doctoral…

Offers reasons and suggestions for involving Asian immigrant college students in classroom talk (by initiating informal conversations, involving more students in discussions, and structuring small-group communication). Cautions against pressuring them to adopt American speech habits that may threaten their Asian-language identities. Includes…

A partnership with the Hmong American community produced "The Wildlife and Wilderness Exploration Show," a DVD that puts a modern twist on traditional Hmong storytelling. Key educational messages in the DVD were identified through interviews with Hmong natural resource professionals. The messages are delivered in entertaining segments in the DVD,…

The early 1980s saw an influx of Southeast Asian refugees from various demographic groups and backgrounds to Minnesota. As teachers, the author and her colleagues regularly added children from these groups to their classrooms, receiving little explanation of a student's history or language proficiency. To counteract increasing teacher resentment…

The author, a teacher at an Indiana middle school, describes how her Mexican ESL students took a stand and helped make a statement against racism. These students, who had a fascination with Asian culture, were indignant when they read an article about a street in Texas called "Jap Road." Adamant that the road name should be changed, the…

The article presents general information on the history, cultures, and languages of the major Asian/Pacific immigrant and refugee groups. Knowledge required to become a cross-cultural communicator is outlined, including professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes; knowledge of cultures, languages, and discourse styles; and knowledge of family…

Describes Project LOWELL, a K-8 bilingual education program developed by Lowell (MA) Public Schools to cope with the dramatic influx of Southeast Asian pupils since 1979. Discusses five project areas: instruction, curriculum development and coordination, staff development and training, parent and community involvement, and dissemination. Issues of…

Challenges the "model minority" stereotype, and discusses the multitude of obstacles facing Chinese-American students in New York City that impede their success in school. Social service gaps are identified, and a new framework of system delivery is offered to address the problem of this special population. (GLR)

This article is about children in foster care and their educational problems. We define those children and present statistics as to their numbers, ages, and types of placements. We then make a case that too few individuals have listened to the voices of children in foster care or are aware of the many barriers they face. Next, we present…

Describes a project that invited immigrant speakers who were developing English-language proficiency to visit elementary classrooms to read aloud a story they had shared with their own children. Despite differing levels of formal schooling and first- and second-language proficiency, every participating parent had a successful experience as a…