ABSTRACT
In an address to the California Education Summit in San Francisco, in February 1994, Professor Kenji Ima stated that Southeast Asian students have the lowest reading scores, below African American and Latino groups. His finding is the result of a decade of comparative research on students' achievement in San Diego city schools. Ima expressed his surprise and dismay about the language-learning failure of Southeast Asian students: Why, in the midst of all claims about Asian academic miracles, did we miss that? His finding leads to an unavoidable inference: Southeast Asian students' needs have not been served, our educational system is guilty of neglect toward them, they are truly suffering educational harm.
