Political Quotes

“I rise in support of amendment No. 2109, just mentioned by the chairman, the Hirono-Heller amendment which addresses Asian-Pacific and Pacific Islander student data. In my home State of Nevada, as in many of my colleagues' home States, the AAPI population is one of the fastest growing. I can give you an example of that according to census data. Nevada's AAPI or Asian- Pacific and Pacific Islander population grew by 116 percent between 2000 and 2010. Now, even though this AAPI group represents students who come from a variety of different backgrounds--Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean--current law and the Every Child Achieves Act uses a broad ``Asian-Pacific Islander'' category when reporting on student achievement. Basically, if you are registering as a student, you have one category--one bubble--called Asian-Pacific Islander, regardless of whether you are Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean. It doesn't matter. It is a single bubble. As a result of this single bubble, this student population as a whole seems to perform well, but the broad AAPI category hides big achievement gaps between subgroups. The current census data gives us this evidence. According to the 2010 census, 72 percent of Asian Indian adults have bachelor degrees or higher; whereas, only 26 percent of Vietnamese adults do. Steps should be taken to help close these achievement gaps and create an environment where all students can succeed.…”