Cultural struggles and educational gaps: The unique challenges of AANHPI students 

By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Even if they look like they’re doing well on paper, grades and grade point averages alone don’t necessarily tell the whole story of Washington’s Asian, Asian American, Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students’ educational experiences.

In the “Asian and NH & PI Education Reports” presentation during the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition meeting on Sept. 17, University of Washington researchers Max Halvorson, Santino Camacho, and Jenn Nguyen presented findings from two years’ worth of studies they conducted in coordination with the Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs and other educational leaders, including Erin Okuno, the director of the state’s Office of Education Ombuds.

The researchers’ findings revealed significant and important information that highlighted educational and opportunity gaps amongst students that hadn’t been widely understood or seen, due to the way most educational researchers conduct their studies. The UW researchers gathered their data and identified these issues not by treating students as a monolith—all belonging to and coming from communities under the AANHPI umbrella—but as coming from distinct ethnicities and backgrounds.

They also discovered significant identity, culture, and acceptance struggles amongst all students—particularly those students who identify as queer, trans, or otherwise part of the LGBTQ+ community—and that Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students suffered from a high rate of bullying.

The data

Most of the studies’ participants came from the western portion of the state, but a handful were located in Spokane. Overall, there were 24 adult participants and 57 youth participants.

The data was split into Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students and Asian and Asian American students. Researchers further disaggregated the data after that to highlight issues and trends within specific ethnicities and cultures.

The researchers specifically noted that much of their research is meant to also help students who are of the Asian diaspora—and these aren’t just students from East, South, or West Asia.

“There’s some of this nuance that we’re missing, such as our central Asian population,” Nguyen said. She explained that, as of the 2020 U.S. census, there are areas for people to write in Central Asian origins, such as Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.

“That’s a huge implication for us as the Asian diaspora and who we take up in our research—really considering, ‘What does it mean to be Asian?’” Nguyen said. “And then we also think about those who are in the Middle East and North African area, Lebanon, and Iran, for example. They are still underneath the white category. Hopefully, within the next census data, they’ll also have their own category, but they are still part of the Asian diaspora.”

Native Hawai’ians and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing populations in the state, quadrupling since 2008. After Hawai’i and California, Washington has the third-highest population of Native Hawai’ians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

Washington’s population of Asians and Asian Americans has doubled in that same time. Washington now ranks as the state with the fifth-highest population of Asians and Asian Americans.

High school

Despite the growing population, students from Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander communities significantly struggle in high school, their grade point averages (GPAs) ranging from 1.0–2.7 out of a 4.0 GPA.

“These are not high achieving groups at a median level,” Halvorson said. “Not to say there aren’t individuals who are, but it’s important to understand what the data are telling us about student achievement.”

The data also shows that Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students who go on to graduate rise to a level about equal to their peers from other racial and ethnic groups, with a 73% graduation rate. This is higher than adult graduates, and their peers graduate at a rate of between 68%–87%. However, the researchers specifically noted that Micronesian students have a lower rate of on-time graduations.

For Asian and Asian American students, the range of GPAs is noticeably higher, falling between 2.5–3.9 for non-English Language Learners (ELL) and 1.9–3.8 for ELLs. Nguyen also referred to ELL as “MLL,” Multi-Language Learners.

ELL, or MLL, status is significant. Researchers found a 0.5 GPA difference—representative of a full letter grade—between ELL students and non-ELL students, specifically in students from Cambodian Khmer, Indian, Malaysian, Nepali, Pakistani, Punjabi, and Vietnamese communities.

According to the researchers’ data, the top languages spoken at home are Vietnamese, Mandarin, English, Dari, and Punjabi. Nguyen said that when they looked at the disaggregated data by Asian and Asian American ethnic subgroups, they could hone in on specific opportunity gaps, in part by looking at the language data and seeing what languages, other than English, students are speaking at home.

“It’s good to know that a lot of our Asian youth are graduating on time,” Nguyen said, referring to graduation rate data. “But we want to also know that there are slight variations amongst some ethnic groups. … Even though it is slight, it’s still important to note that there are these slight differences, because again, we don’t want to move towards a monolithic narrative of how all Asian students are doing well based on this particular data point.”

Higher education

The researchers also looked at what happens to students after high school.

Halvorson shared data showing that they found low rates of on-time degree completion amongst Native Hawai’ians and Pacific Islanders, with Micronesian students completing two- and four-year degrees at the lowest rates, and Melanesian students completing those degrees at the highest rates.

However, he said, once students attained their degrees, they went on to have similar starting salaries as their peers from other cultural and ethnic groups.

“The goal of getting students to graduate does seem to be leading to these economic outcomes that we would hope, when it does happen,” Halvorson said. “But I think a lot of the story of, ‘What do we do about this?’ comes more from understanding what communities are experiencing—how do they see their challenges, and what they would need to feel more engaged in the school environment to sort of achieve.”

Nguyen shared data that showed significantly higher rates of degree enrollment across Asian and Asian American groups, and that most Asians and Asian Americans who did enroll in higher education were more likely to pursue four-year degrees.

But, once again, disaggregated data showed a much more nuanced story. When broken down into different groups, there was significant variability in the completion of a two- or four-year degree.

Bullying, mental health, and culturally responsive practices

While educational data showed significant variance among different groups, one major factor that nearly every respondent had in common was the lack of a feeling of belonging. Even those with access to student groups felt that they were still missing something.

The researchers included quotes from both students and educators describing students’ experiences.

“Our district has this goal of increasing sense of belonging,” one educator, who identified as Native Hawai’ian/Pacific Islander, said. “But I don’t think sense of belonging can truly happen when we don’t start to be very intentional about the spaces that we are in and creating those spaces in which are familiar and helpful to our students.”

“I guess I’ve never really felt Asian. Like, I never felt Asian enough, and I’ve also never felt White enough in school, and I think being represented in the curriculum would probably make me feel a little more… Like I don’t know what the word is, but like normal,” one student, who is Taiwanese and white, told the researchers. “I’m a mix between two normals, I guess … I’m Asian when people want me to be but then I’m White when people want me to be.”

However, the kind of alienation still differed in several ways between Native Hawai’ians and Pacific Islanders and Asians and Asian Americans.

Camacho said that the data revealed that Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students suffered a high level of bullying. A quarter of Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students reported suffering bullying in the last year, with 24% of those saying that they had specifically been bullied due to their race.

Transgender, queer Pacific Islander (QTPI) youth also suffered much higher levels of anxiety, depression, and—most alarmingly—suicidal thoughts. Of the surveyed students, 67% of QTPI youth suffered suicidal thoughts compared with 17% of their cisgender peers.

Overall, more Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander girls reported more mental health problems than Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander boys.

Camacho highlighted the importance of recognizing QTPI youth, whose pre-colonial cultures have a wealth of gender diversity. Camacho said that one QTPI student told them that “the main thing about me being queer and Pacific Islander together … is knowing that I had this long line of ancestors who are also part of the same experience.”

“They shared a lot about sort of the responsibilities passed down to them by their elders—who are also QTPI—that they engaged with in their schools,” Camacho said of the student.

The challenges Nguyen highlighted for Asian and Asian American students differed in some ways. There was a theme of feeling both seen and unseen at the same time, neither for positive reasons. Students felt “seen” when they were stereotyped into the “model minority” myth and simultaneously “unseen” because they did not feel that anyone saw them as anything more than that. Many also felt they were treated unfairly, due to their race.

“I know I can ask a teacher for help,” a Chinese student shared with researchers, “but I feel like that sometimes when students do ‘better,’ teachers generally seem to, like, help other students first and then come help. … So, yeah, overlooked in a sense, but they also kind of call on us a lot. So it’s kind of weird, like, sometimes kind of both.”

Asian and Asian American students suffered from anxiety and depression at similar rates to their Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander peers. Queer and trans Asian and Asian American students also suffered from alarmingly high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, again outstripping their cisgender Asian and Asian American peers. They also reported higher rates of bullying, because of their race, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

In speaking with participants, the researchers identified that several culturally responsive practices would be helpful for students—but only if practices also addressed the fact that students who fall under the AANHPI umbrella are far from a monolith and different students will require different practices.

For Native Hawai’ian and Pacific Islander students, researchers made several recommendations:

1. Bolster language services for NH/PI families.
2. Disaggregate NH/PI from As/AsAm data in all circumstances and disaggregate NH/PI data to the ethnic group level when possible.
3. Promote cultural humility for all educators and NH/PI historical awareness.
4. Invest in and support the mental health workforce and NH/PI staff.
5. Embed NH/PI culture and history into schools and classrooms.
6. Increase NH/PI representation in the educator workforce.
7. Approach disability and accommodations with cultural and strengths-based perspectives.
8. Support and affirm Queer and Transgender Pacific Islander (QTPI) youth.

For Asian and Asian American students, researchers listed several practices that educational systems should implement or be aware of:

1. Center data disaggregation by race, ethnicity, and language to inform equitable decision- making.
   2. Expand cultural and identity programs, such as dual language and ethnic studies, to honor cultural languages, affirm identity, and promote belonging.
2. Increase representation and retention in the As/AsAm educator workforce.
3. Invest in wellness initiatives and programs to support As/AsAm youth mental health.
4. Building collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations.
5. Understanding Asian youth requires an intersectional lens that values multiracial identities, affirms LGBTQ youth, and approaches disability with cultural and strengths-based perspectives.