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Home > Data Center > Student Data > Ethnicity Definitions

Ethnicity Definitions

The Maine Department of Education uses definitions of ethnicity that have been specified for use in the federal government. Classifications indicating general racial or ethnic heritage are based on self-identification or on observer identification.  These categories are in accordance with the federal Office of Management and Budget standard classification scheme presented below:

WHITE -- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.  Normally excludes persons of Hispanic origin.

BLACK -- A person having origins in any of the black racial groups in Africa.  Excludes persons of Hispanic origin.

HISPANIC -- A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin.

ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER -- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands.  This area includes, for example, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands and Samoa.

AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKAN NATIVE -- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and maintaining cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.