New Waves—Educational Research & Development 50 March, 2014, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 50–65 Rethinking Identity and Agency in Minority Education: Preparing Asian American Leaders for a Global Future Guofang Li Michigan State University Jing Lin University of Maryland Hongyu Wang Oklahoma State University Abstract Asian Americans’ cultural values and their perceived collective identity as passive model minorities have been cited as double barriers to their leadership development trajectory. In this article, we argue that accumulation of leadership capital must begin in K-12 schools and must address both learner identity transformation and learner agency in reconfiguring power structures that often exclude them from leadership roles. We argue for replacing the fixed, singular definition of Asian American students as model minorities who lack mainstream leadership skills with a plural consciousness toward identity and difference that is central to the transformation of the power hierarchy in the increasingly complex transnational milieu. We highlight the role of agency in fostering this plural consciousness and breaking the binary opposition in the existing power hierarchy. Finally we call for a form of education that emphasizes a critical awareness of identity construction and a proactive stance that is essential to Asian Americans to enact their agency and accumulate leadership capital critical to their everyday life and career advancement. Introduction In a provocative article appeared in New York Magazine on May 8, 2011, Wesley Yang asks, “What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?” The answer is: many of the high achieving Asian Americans who performed well in top schools are facing career obstacles and few assume leadership positions. According to Yang (2011), though Asian- Americans comprise about 5% of the U.S. population, they make up only 0.3% of corporate officers, fewer than 1% of board members, and 2% of college presidents (see also The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2008). Yang (2011) attributes the obstacles to the self- identities of Asian children who grow up with cultural values that include filial piety, deference to authority, humility, hard work, harmony and sacrificing for the future; and therefore they do not develop the agency they need to assume a leadership role in most workplaces. Asian Americans’ lack of mainstream cultural lessons and skills in leadership or “leadership capital” is further compounded by a general discriminatory perception of Asian Americans as competent and hard working model minorities who lack leadership skills. As a result, Asian Americans have been largely kept out of leadership positions including higher educational institutions (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2008). These two-pronged barriers to leadership development and success suggest a need to reconsider Asian Americans’ development of self- identity and agency and the current racial and structural relations in the educational contexts and