S 1844119th CongressIn Committee

Teaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act of 2025

Introduced: May 21, 2025

Civil Rights & JusticeEducation

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

The Teaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act of 2025 would create a new grant program overseen by the Secretary of Education to support educational initiatives that teach Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history. The bill emphasizes including the history of AANHPI contributions to the founding of the United States, the discriminatory laws and policies that affected these communities, and their ongoing impact on current events, as well as their broad contributions to American life, history, literature, economy, politics, law, and culture. It also requires that AANHPI history be incorporated into official curricula and related activities across key education programs and assessments. In addition to granting authority, the bill makes several amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to ensure Asian Pacific American history is included in American history content for various programs, academies, national activities, and assessments. It also directs partnerships with national museums, including the Smithsonian, to provide educator resources. The findings section lays out the rationale, highlighting underrepresentation, stereotypes, and the long history of AANHPI contributions and challenges in the U.S.

Key Points

1Establishes a grant program to fund educational activities that teach Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history, including topics on settlement, discriminatory laws, and contemporary relevance, as well as contributions to American life and institutions.
2Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to require that American history instruction include Asian Pacific American history across multiple programs, including curriculum content, teacher preparation, and related educational activities.
3Expands the scope of the Presidential and Congressional Academies for American History and Civics to include Asian Pacific American history and adjusts associated provisions to ensure these topics are part of teacher training and classroom instruction.
4Modifies the National Activities and National Assessment (NAEP) components to incorporate Asian Pacific American history, ensuring that assessments and related activities reflect this history as part of broader American history education.
5Promotes collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific American Center to provide programs and resources for educators and students, supporting implementation of the new content.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected: K-12 students and teachers in U.S. public and nonprofit schools, particularly those in grades K-12, who would receive curricula and instruction that include Asian Pacific American history.Secondary group/area affected: State and local education agencies, school districts, textbook and instructional materials publishers, teacher professional development organizations, and national museums (notably the Smithsonian) that would contribute resources and programs.Additional impacts:- Increased curriculum development and teacher training focused on AANHPI history.- Potential changes in assessments and reporting through NAEP to reflect AANHPI history content.- Greater public and academic attention to the histories of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, including historical and ongoing impacts of immigration laws, civil rights, and colonial legacies.- Resource and partnership opportunities with national institutions to support educational content.

Generated by gpt-5-nano on Oct 7, 2025