During a reception at Congress after its passage of resolutions condemning the Chinese Exclusion Laws, Representative Mike Honda challenged the 1882 Project to continue the educational effort by ensuring that all high school social studies or history text books contained at least one page on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  Shortly afterwards, the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA) convened a conference in Sacramento.  From that conference and continuing discussions through the 1882 Symposium, a general understanding emerged that revising text books was not the most cost-effective way to achieve our educational goals. A better approach was to affect state standards of learning and ensure core curricula contained subjects on the Chinese and Asian American experience.

Through this approach and supported by the Chinese American Citizens Alliance and the 1882 Foundation, educators and concerned citizens have connected with state legislators and education officials in Virginia, Washington State and Oregon.  They have developed teachers guides, organized teacher workshops and drafted lesson plans. The Alliance plans to lead a national effort to catalog new and old lesson plans and create a interactive data base for educators and researchers.