AAPI and Ethnic Studies K-12 Curriculum Legislation and Academic Standards (2025)

2025

AAPI and Ethnic Studies K-12 Curriculum: Legislation and Academic Standards

Committee of 100’s public policy research project identifies and classifies state-level (and the District of Columbia) statutes, bills, and academic standards of K-12 curriculum pertaining to the study of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, as well as other non-white racial and ethnic groups.

As of March 25, 2025:

11 states have statutes that require AAPI studies curriculum
7 states are considering recently introduced bills that would require AAPI studies curriculum
16 states have academic standards that require AAPI studies
24 states have statutes that require ethnic studies curriculum
12 states are considering recently introduced bills that would require ethnic studies curriculum
37 states have academic standards that require ethnic studies
6 states have no statutes, recently introduced bills, or academic standards that require or make optional AAPI studies or ethnic studies curriculum

Background & methodology

Committee of 100 researchers analyzed the laws, regulations, bills, and publicly available curriculum standards of all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia to determine which states have existing K-12 AAPI or ethnic studies curriculum requirements or legislative action that would enact such requirements. Committee of 100 cross-referenced state legislature websites, state statutes, keyword Google searches, and LegiScan to assess the existence and status of legislation and statutes, as well as state department of education websites and publicly available curriculum standards issued by state regulators and boards of education to determine the prevalence of AAPI and ethnic studies academic standards.

This research was originally conducted in 2022, updated in 2023 and 2024, and is currently updated as of March 25, 2025. All definitions and methodologies identified here follow those laid out in the 2023 report. For more information about the methodology and definitions used here, please refer to the methods section on pages three and four of the 2023 report.

Interactive map

In the interactive map below, users may select and filter among academic standards, bills that have passed into law, and bills currently under consideration (pending bills) to meet their needs using the dropdown menus. Each dropdown menu allows users to select among AAPI studies and/or ethnic studies (explained in the glossary below). Highlighted states meet least one of the selections. For instance, if “AAPI studies” is selected under the academic standards dropdown menu and “AAPI studies (required)” is selected under the passed bills dropdown menu, highlighted states have AAPI studies standards in place and/or one or more bills passed that require AAPI studies to be taught in schools. Click on any state to show information related to the existing statutes, standards, and pending bills in that state.

K-12 AAPI Studies and Ethnic Studies Interactive Map

Additional Resource: Lesson Plans

Committee of 100 collaborated with The Asian American Education Project to develop five free lesson plans on Chinese American history. The information was sourced in part from Committee of 100’s report “From Foundations to Frontiers: Chinese American Contributions to the Fabric of America.”

Specially designed for Grades 6-9, these lesson plans examine the multi-faceted Chinese American contributions to U.S. society, historically and presently. The lesson plans focus on Business and Entrepreneurship, Science and Technology, Food and Cuisine, Art and Film and the Perpetual Foreigner narrative.

Glossary of Terms

Academic standards

All academic/education standards identified require curriculum to be taught. The academic standards identified must either require teaching broad AAPI or ethnic studies, including the history, contributions, or experiences of an ethnic group, or require instruction on at least three events from the history of AAPIs or another ethnic group. State curriculum or frameworks that mention AAPIs or other ethnic groups in examples of topics of study but not in required academic standards do not meet this threshold and so are not included here. Note that some some states have statutes in place that are not reflected in their academic standards.

AAPI studies and ethnic studies

“AAPI studies” includes statutes, bills, and academic standards that explicitly identify and include the study of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. These statutes, bills, and standards may only relate to the study of AAPI populations or may be embedded in ethnic studies-related curriculum and so be listed as both “AAPI studies” and “ethnic studies.”

“Ethnic studies” includes statutes, bills, and academic standards relating to specific, non-white racial and ethnic groups, other than Native Americans, within the U.S. context. From our 2023 report, “While many states’ curriculum requirements reference Indigenous Americans, Native Americans, or tribes or peoples indigenous to their geographic areas, the requirements vary and generally are not taught in an ethnic studies context, so they are beyond the scope of this project.”

Required and optional

Statutes and bills that include “(required)” denote those that mandate curriculum that includes the study of AAPI populations and/or other, specific, non-white racial and ethnic groups. Statutes and bills that include “(optional)” denote those that do not require curriculum, but instead may create elective courses or encourage schools to teach related subject matter. Such “optional” statutes and bills may also create model curriculums, or commissions to study what courses are currently being offered by schools in the state; they do not require schools to provide this instruction.

Pending bills

Pending bills include bills that are currently under consideration (as of March 25, 2025) by state legislatures, and include bills related to AAPI studies and ethnic studies.

If you have a comment or know of new bills that have recently been proposed or standards that have recently been revised, please email Committee of 100 Research and Data Scientist Sam Collitt at scollitt@Committee100.org.