Faculty & Staff Directory

Began at CAIS in 2010

Head of School Jeff Bissell came to CAIS after 11 years as Director of School Year Abroad in Beijing, China. Prior to that he served as Adjunct Professor of Chinese Language at Marquette University, an instructor at Shenyang University of Technology 沈阳工业大学 in Liaoning Province, China; and at rural and urban high schools in Wisconsin.  Jeff currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Keystone Academy in Beijing.  Previous board service has included the California Teacher Development Collaborative (CATDC); the Chinese Early Language Immersion Network (CELIN) at Asia Society, the 1990 Institute, the Mandarin Institute, Western Academy of Beijing, and the JUMP! Foundation.  He was also named to the task force for the 1 Million Strong initiative spearheaded by Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping to expand to 1 million the number of US K-12 students studying Mandarin by 2020.

Jeff is the recipient of numerous fellowships for the study of Chinese and Japanese language.  He has published and presented at professional conferences on a variety of topics including Mandarin immersion, experiential education, and leadership in multilingual and multicultural environments.  

Jeff is a devoted fitness enthusiast, a mindfulness practitioner, a plant lover, and an avid fan of many musical genres.

Began at CAIS in 2021

Hailing from Taiwan, Ms. Chiang is a veteran immersion educator with 17 years experience, including four years in her previous role as Chinese Academic Dean at Silicon Valley International School (formerly known as International School of the Peninsula). She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; credentials from National University of Tainan and University of California San Diego; and a master’s degree in TESOL from San Jose State University. As she joined CAIS, she reflected on the strong community, “This resonates with the motto I have always lived by as a leader: 一个人走，走得快；一群人走，走得远 (If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together).”

See School Spotlight—Cindy Chiang

Began at CAIS in 2018

Proud of her mother’s Shanghai and Hong Kong roots, Mrs. Kaz studied Chinese at Brown University and at the Beijing Institute of Education. She earned her master’s degree in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and is a National Board Certified Teacher in Early/Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading­-Language Arts. At Tsinghua International School 清华大学附中国际部, she taught English and music and started a golf team. At Sheridan, an independent school in Washington, DC, she taught second grade, fourth grade, and 8th grade geometry, and she helped develop curriculum, including a social studies unit on the Silk Road. At Georgetown Day School, another independent school in Washington, DC, she was a third grade lead teacher and the Chair of the national Asian Educators Alliance Conference. Mrs. Kaz is an experienced practitioner and mentor with Readers and Writers Workshop as well as with Responsive Classroom. In her practice as a teacher, she has shown deep commitment to engaging with issues of social class, gender, race, and social justice.

A Chinese and German speaker, she is also a:
• soprano with the International Orange Chorale and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus
• golfer
• triathlete
• skier
• SCUBA diver (PADI-certified rescue diver)
• certified emergency first responder

Began at CAIS in 2021

Wei joined CAIS from the BASIS Independent School in Fremont, California, where she served as Early Years Dean of Students. There she continued to build on her strength from Yuming Charter School in Oakland, developing and implementing multi-tiered academic and behavioral support systems for all students. Wei holds a bachelor of arts degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language from Shanghai University and a master’s of education in Foreign Language Curriculum and Teaching from DePaul University.

Excited to begin at CAIS this coming school year, she shares, “It is an honor to join this extraordinary school community with such persevering students, an extremely dedicated staff, and a supportive school community! I am committed to uniting my experience, my openness to learn, and my student-centered approach to support every student at CAIS and to build strong relationships with students, staff, and parents. Together we will empower our Firedragons to shape their future and the future of our community and our nation!”

BEGAN AT CAIS 2006

Shyu Laoshi was born and raised in Taiwan. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She joined the CAIS community in 2006 and taught in a range of classes from Preschool to Third Grade at CAIS. Following a national search in spring 2026, she was named Director of our Early Childhood Center.

Began at CAIS 2026

Xinyi Xu is a native of Shanghai and a graduate of East China Normal University 华东师范大学. Following her undergraduate education, Xinyi came to the United States where she completed an MA in curriculum and instruction at Michigan State University. Xinyi taught in a public Mandarin immersion school in Michigan for several years before moving to Oakland where she was a founding faculty member at the K-8 Yu Ming Charter School, a Mandarin immersion school with which CAIS has interacted regularly over the years. Xinyi held several roles at Yu Ming during her decade-long tenure there including classroom teacher, Chinese program coordinator, division director, and K-8 director of curriculum and instruction. In the latter role she oversaw the implementation of schoolwide Competency Based Learning (CBL) and project based language learning at the Middle School. Under her leadership, Yu Ming Charter was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2019 and a California Distinguished School in 2020. Since 2021, Xiny has served as Chief Schools Officer for Level Learning where she led national strategy and implementation of a data-driven, skill-based, objective mastery-based language and literacy platform for Spanish, Mandarin, and English language learners, including support for nearly two-thirds of all K-8 Mandarin immersion programs in the US.

In a message to the CAIS community, she shared, “I am incredibly excited and honored to be the next CAIS Middle School Director. I’ve long admired CAIS’s pioneering dual language immersion work and innovative learning. I am eager to leverage my experience to support faculty, students, and families, ensuring CAIS middle schoolers are deeply connected and prepared to make a positive impact.”