When Annie Nguyen was growing up, she wasn’t a big fan of history class.
“I hated history,” the Round Rock high school teacher said. “I didn’t see myself in it.”
That changed when Nguyen took an Asian American Studies class while a student at UT Austin. About a decade later, she's playing a pivotal role in piloting an Asian American Studies course so it may one day be offered in public high schools throughout Texas.
Nguyen, who primarily teaches advanced English and AP English literature, gave up her planning period last school year to teach the class. She said taking on the elective energized her.
“We got to slow down and have fun and just learn,” she said. “It has really transformed the way I see education.”
Nguyen shared what she learned during the inaugural Asian American Studies Academy in June. About 30 educators from Austin ISD and elsewhere gathered at the UT Austin College of Education to learn about teaching the course, as well as how to incorporate Asian American representation into their classes.
Nguyen said one of the best parts of teaching the class was that students wanted to be there.
She said the class introduced students to histories and experiences that have “often been erased and ignored.” According to Asian Texans for Justice, a nonpartisan nonprofit that helped develop the course, the Asian American experience is mentioned only twice in Texas’ K-12 social studies standards.
The teachers participating in the academy didn’t have to just take Nguyen’s word for it when it came to students’ enthusiasm; they got to hear directly from five of Nguyen’s 29 students.
Students' favorite class
Nari, an upcoming high school senior who is Korean American, said she was the only Asian student in her entire grade in middle school.
“I had a lot of instances where I felt very isolated," she said, "so being able to find that kind of community in a historical aspect has been such a blessing to me."
Nari said there previously had been little to no mention of Asian or Asian American history in her classes at Round Rock ISD. She had to seek it out herself.
“I specifically took a Korean history course on my own time during the summer,” she said.
Even though there's still not enough Asian American representation in her regular classes, Nari said, she's been encouraged by the popularity of K-pop, K-dramas and K-beauty which "has made a lot of people open up to Korean culture and even Asian culture as a whole."
Nari encourages other Round Rock students to take the course whether or not they're Asian American because it will prepare them for life after high school.
"I would like to see people in any space taking this course because in any type of career, any type of job, there's still moments where people may be excluded," she said. "So it's important to learn to break those cycles of discrimination in the workplace."
Nari and other students who took the class said what set it apart is that it actually felt like they were learning.
“Not only did I actually learn something, unlike my other classes, it made me want to go to school."Ryder, Round Rock student
Rianna said it was her favorite class and that it was cool she and her classmates got to make history as the first students in Texas to take it.
“I hope it’s a districtwide course and eventually it can become a statewide course,” she said. “And it might be able to get integrated into regular history classes.”
Ryder also said Asian American Studies was his favorite course.
“Not only did I actually learn something," he said, "unlike my other classes, it made me want to go to school."
Research backs up Ryder’s experience. A study of the long-term impact of taking an ethnic studies class in ninth grade within a California school district found students had better academic outcomes and attendance rates for the rest of high school.
Ryder said he wants more students to get the chance to take ethnic studies courses.
“My hope is in the future that it isn’t controversial to take an ethnic studies course," he said, "but instead welcome to take one."
Curriculum that reflects students
Advocates hope the Texas State Board of Education adopts statewide curriculum standards for the class, like it did for Mexican American Studies in 2018 and African American Studies in 2020. One of the first steps in that process is piloting a course at the local level, like in Round Rock.
Lily Trieu, executive director of Asian Texans for Justice, said the organization ramped up its work on an Asian American Studies course after the SBOE in 2022 delayed updating the social studies curriculum standards, which at that point were about a decade old.
“Every minute we’re not making relevant changes — that’s another generation of students who’s going to miss out on seeing themselves reflected in the curriculum,” she said.
According to TEA data, just over 5% of Texas’ 5.5 million public school students are Asian. Census data released in June shows Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the Austin area and Texas as a whole.
While it's important for students to see themselves reflected in school curricula, Trieu said, students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds can benefit from ethnic studies. She pointed out that not all 29 students who took the class at Round Rock High identify as Asian American.
“They all said that this course really benefited them, it made learning more fun, they felt seen, they felt like education was something they could be excited about again,” she said.
Trieu said the SBOE’s previous decisions to approve Mexican American and African American studies was a big step forward. But she said it’s sad that efforts to get board approval for another ethnic studies course have stagnated. Advocates for American Indian/Native Studies had expected the SBOE to adopt statewide curriculum standards for the course this year, but that hasn’t happened yet. SBOE Chair Aaron Kinsey has said “discussions around the course remain ongoing.” The board is scheduled to meet two more times before the end of the year.
“My hope for the Asian American Studies course is that by the time we make it to the SBOE for consideration, that public education won’t be politicized and weaponized as it is now,” Trieu said.
A chance to connect
While advocates ultimately want Asian American Studies to become a state-approved ethnic studies class offered in Texas high schools, teachers who participated in the academy in June said there were things they could start implementing next school year.
Natalia Chapa Mills teaches classes in English and Spanish at an Austin ISD elementary school. She said she was interested in the Asian American Studies Academy, in part, because her campus received an influx of Afghan refugees after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“Our school really did a lot to pivot in that time. A lot of these refugees came in speaking Pashto and Dari,” she said. “We ended up hiring some of their moms to be TAs, which was really helpful, but I always felt like we could do a lot more.”
She said initially most of the Afghan students were in the English as a second language (ESL) program, but now a growing number are participating in the dual language program to learn English and Spanish.
“I wanted to make sure that their stories were represented, that I’m doing everything that I can to make them included and feel comfortable in the spaces," she said, "especially learning a language that’s completely new to them."
Chapa Mills said she’d like to see ethnic studies interwoven throughout the K-12 curriculum so students aren't taking their first ethnic studies courses in high school.
Reagan Randolph, the ESL partner teacher in a Vietnamese dual language program at an Austin elementary school, said she wanted to do the summer training to learn more about her students’ culture.
“I just really wanted to learn more to help me better connect with my students and their families and their stories,” she said.
Randolph said she also came away with resources for her elementary school students.
“I have been given a lot of resources and tools to help me include more Asian American stories in my teaching no matter what subject that may be,” she said.
As she gears up to teach the class again, Nguyen reflects on a full-circle moment last school year. Her mother, who is also a teacher, visited her class to celebrate Tết Trung Thu, a Vietnamese moon festival.
“To have the woman who helped me fall in love with education so much be there and witness this,” she said, “that was full of joy and connection and family and belonging.”
