AAPI and Ethnic Studies K-12 Curriculum Legislation and Academic Standards (2026)

Updated July 23, 2026

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

Committee of 100’s public policy research project identifies and classifies state-level statutes, bills, and content standards pertaining to K-12 social studies and history education of the experiences, contributions, and histories of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, as well as other non-White racial and ethnic groups. The goal of the project is to provide educators and concerned individuals with a detailed and current account of the manner and degree to which states issue mandates, recommendations, and resources to provide meaningful instruction to K-12 students on these topics.

New Asian American history and ethnic studies standards and laws in 2026:

Oklahoma has adopted new social studies standards in 2026 that ask high school students to “Describe the contributions of Chinese immigrants to the national economy and nativist opposition to their continued immigration…,” “explain changes in federal immigration policy including the Chinese Exclusion Act…,” and “Explain the reasons for President Roosevelt’s executive order for the incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent, the experiences of Japanese families, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Korematsu v. United States.” The standards also many new learning objectives concerning the experiences and treatment of Native Americans, as well as the histories of other non-white American populations.
Iowa has adopted new social studies standards in 2026 that ask 4th graders to consider “interactions between settlers and Native American people, settlers and Chinese immigrants in the West” and to compare and contrast experiences of different immigrant groups, including Chinese and Japanese immigrants. In 9th-12th grade history, students are asked to “analyze how labor and government actions during World War II influenced American economic systems, urbanization, and cultural development,” including Japanese-American internment, and Korematsu v. United States. In 8th grade, Iowa’s social studies standards asks students to identify and understand “the contributions of and impact on free and enslaved African Americans, women and Native Americans during the American Revolution” and the role of African Americans in the Civil War.” In 9th-12th grade, students are asked to understand and analyze a variety of historical events related to the contributions and experiences of African Americans.
Maine’s LD 1202 (2026) Creates an African American Studies Advisory Council and funding to support African American studies. The council will develop and recommend African American studies curriculum.
Maine’s LD 1474 (2026) amends education standards to include Wabanaki history requirements in American and Maine studies. Additionally, the law creates the position of Wabanaki Studies Specialist within the Maine Department of Education to oversee compliance with the 2001 Wabanaki Studies Law, which requires the inclusion of Wabanaki history, economic and political systems, and culture in the curricula of all public K-12 schools.

As of July 23, 2026:

13 states have statutes that include Asian American studies requirements.
7 states are currently considering bills that would include Asian American studies requirements.
17 states have content standards related to the histories, experiences, and/or contributions of Asian American populations.
26 states have statutes that include ethnic studies requirements.
8 states are currently considering bills that include ethnic studies requirements.
38 states have content standards related to the histories, experiences, and/or contributions of other non-White populations.
3 states have no statutes, recently introduced bills, or content standards related to Asian American studies or other non-White population studies.

Background & methodology

Since 2022, Committee of 100 researchers have documented and analyzed contemporary and historical regulations, laws, and ongoing legislative efforts by states to determine the current landscape of Asian American and ethnic studies instruction. Through reading and classifying all potentially relevant statutes and bills, as well as states’ social studies and history content standards, the current database provides a holistic and nuanced portrayal of states’ efforts to provide instruction on Asian American histories and the histories of other non-White populations in K-12 public schools.

Interactive map

Bills and Standards: In this tab, users may select and filter among states’ content standards, bills that have passed into law, and bills currently under consideration (pending bills) to highlight the states that meet any combination of the selected criteria. Each dropdown menu allows users to select among Asian American studies and/or ethnic studies (explained in the glossary below). For instance, if “Asian American studies” is selected under the content standards dropdown menu and “Asian American studies requirement” is selected under the passed bills dropdown menu, highlighted states have Asian American studies standards in place and/or one or more bills passed that include an Asian American studies requirement. Click on any state to show information related to the existing statutes, standards, and pending bills in that state, which includes any population-specific provisions contained in a standard or bill.

Education Policy Structure: Here users can investigate the relationship that state-level education entities (e.g. boards of education) have with local education entities (e.g. school districts) with regard to standards and curriculum (in this case, only states that meet the specific combination of user selections are highlighted). Some states require that local school entities align their curriculum to achieve the specific skills and knowledge goals defined in content standards, while other states provide content standards as a set of recommended guidelines from which school districts can develop curriculum. Most curriculum is developed at the local level, while in a few rare instances (North Carolina and Rhode Island), curriculum is mostly developed at the state level. Finally, state-level entities have varying degrees of oversight of curriculum; some include specific requirements (e.g. for math or reading), some provide model curriculum/curriculum frameworks for local entities to build from, some approve of locally-developed curriculum, while others have very little or no oversight.

Advocacy Organizations: Here users can find state and local organizations that advocate for inclusion of meaningful AAPI and ethnic studies instruction in K-12 public schools. These organizations were identified by The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). TAAF’s recently initiated AAPI History Hub provides a wealth of instructional resources for K-12 educators to teach AAPI history in schools. In addition to the state and local organizations provided below, there are also many national advocacy organizations, including:

Lesson Plans: TAAF’s AAPI History Hub also includes over 300 lesson plans that cover a wide range of historical topics focusing on the contributions and experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. This tab provides links to lesson plans that pertain to a given state.

K-12 AAPI Studies and Ethnic Studies Interactive Map

Glossary of Terms

Content Standards: Content standards (otherwise known as education standards or academic standards) define the skills and knowledge that students should or are required to learn at each grade level, and are divided into educational subject areas (e.g. math, social studies). In many cases, they provide the framework for curriculum development. The content standards documented here are social studies and/or history standards, wherein standards related to Asian Americans or other non-White populations may be included. For example, in California’s history standards, 4th-grade students are required to “Understand the story and lasting influence of the Pony Express, Overland Mail Service, Western Union, and the building of the transcontinental railroad, including the contributions of Chinese workers to its construction” (p. 14).” This particular standard related to Chinese Americans is thus referenced in the state-level summary in the interactive map. States either require or recommend that students meet the standards set. In California, for example, the State Board of Education recommends that school districts and their students meet the standards set by the Board, but they are not required.

Curriculum: Educational curriculum includes the lessons and materials that teachers use to teach subject area and grade-level courses. Depending on the state, curriculum must be designed so as to meet a state’s education standards covering a given subject area and grade level. Most often, curriculum is designed at the local (e.g. school district) level, and so the particular provisions contained in social studies and history curriculum are outside of the scope of this database. Curriculum may also be directly influenced by state laws, requiring instruction on certain topics and so necessarily affecting the design and development of curriculum across the state; such state-level bills and laws are included in this database.

To note, Committee of 100 used Ballotpedia’s databases of curriculum and content standards for the data contained in Education Policy Structure tab of the interactive map.

Asian American studies: This classification concerns the bills, laws, and content standards that relate to K-12 education of the experiences, contributions, and/or histories of Asian American populations, as well as Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian populations when they are explicitly referenced. Sometimes, “Asian” or “Asian American” is used in these texts, while other times specific Asian American populations are referenced (e.g. Korean Americans). All groups referenced in a given text are documented under the “Provisions” heading for that text.

Ethnic studies: This classification concerns the bills, laws, and content standards that relate to K-12 education of the experiences, contributions, and/or histories of all other non-White populations. States refer to these populations in a wide variety of ways, so that “ethnic,” as we term it here, is effectively shorthand for all such references: e.g. “traditionally excluded individuals” (Oregon’s social studies standards), “underrepresented” groups (MA H 682, 2025), and “historically disadvantaged” populations (MD SB 916, 2025). Sometimes specific populations are referenced, such as African Americans or particular Native American tribes, and these groups are also identified under a text’s “Provisions” heading.

Requirements and Recommendations: Passed and pending bills that include a “requirement” are those that include a particular mandate or requirement that affects educational curriculum or instruction. For instance, Washington’s SB 5462 (2023) states, “The legislature intends to expand these requirements by requiring school districts to adopt policies and procedures that incorporate adopting inclusive curricula and selecting inclusive instructional materials that include the histories, contributions, and perspectives of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups.” Meanwhile, bills that are classified as including a “recommendation” are those that encourage or recommend a change to some aspect of Asian American or ethnic studies instruction without requiring a mandate, or bills that produce a commission or study that may or may not impact curriculum or instruction. For example, Washington’s SB 5023 (2019) states that, “Public schools with students in grades seven through twelve are encouraged to offer an ethnic studies course[…]”. New York’s S 7855 (2025) “directs the state Education Commissioner to conduct a survey to assess the current status of AANHPI instruction.” Such distinctions between “recommendation” and “requirement” are not absolute, and should rather be considered within the context of the bill and the state’s educational policy structure.

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.

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.