ASIAN-AMERICANS AS MODEL MINORITIES - A LOOK AT THEIR ACADEMIC-PERFORMANCE

The image of Asian-Americans as ''model minorities'' is driven, in par t, by the high academic achievement of Asian-American children. To eva luate this characterization, I use the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to compare Asian and white eighth graders on reading and math test scores and grades. Results indicate that the dif ference between Asians overall and whites on reading and math test sco res can be explained by differences in family background. However, ana lyses by Asian subgroups reveal that Chinese, Korean and Southeast Asi an youth earn higher math scores while Pacific Islanders earn consider ably lower math and reading scores than their white counterparts. Whit es and Asians differ substantially in their grade performance, which s uggests that cultural and behavioral differences may be an important i nfluence on grades. Analyses of Asian subgroups show no statistical pe rceivably higher grades than whites after controlling for the effects of family characteristics.