NAAPAE

National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education

A Voice for Asian and Pacific American Education

Some NAAPAE Achievements

Since its beginning in 1977, NAAPAE has been active in contributing to development of federal legislation that may affect Asian and Pacific American communities. Examples of such are the ESEA Title VII Bilingual Education Act, The Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendment of 1988, the Carl Perkins Vocational Act, and the Refugee Education Act.

NAAPAE has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Education to design and implement several national studies of interest to Asian and Pacific American education. For example, an ongoing national longitudinal study (NELS:88) was modified as a result of this interaction to include more APA students in the study sample, making possible the analysis of the APA subsample and its sub-groups. Through its regional representatives and local chapters, NAAPAE has interacted with state and local governments to promote adequate funding for educational programs for APA students.

To encourage interest in Asian and Pacific American education, NAAPAE has co-sponsored summer institutes on Asian and Pacific American educational research, and granted awards to outstanding research studies and publications. NAAPAE also co-sponsored several national forums to address APA educational issues. 

NAAPAE has several local chapters across the USA. To encourage international support of the aims of NAAPAE, the Association has a chapter in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The most recent local chapter is the Washington State/Tacoma chapter, which was organized in 2009.

To support worthy young people in their education, NAAPAE provides annual scholarships to students who are about to graduate from high school and students already engaged in their college/university education. NAAPAE’s California chapter also provides scholarships. NAAPAE scholarships are presented at the annual conference.

NAAPAE has also worked collaboratively with many other professional organizations, including the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), the National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NAACP), the National Education Association (NEA), and the National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA) to facilitate dissemination of information and to co-sponsor educational activities.

Finally, NAAPAE has sponsored several scholarly studies and publications, as noted elsewhere in the website.