I am excited to announce that after an extensive international search, we have appointed Ms. Xinyi Xu to be CAIS’s next Middle School Director. In sixteen-plus years and dozens of searches (including all of the school’s current leadership searches) at CAIS, I have to say that the candidate pool for the Middle School Director was the strongest I have ever seen. This speaks to the strength of our School’s reputation in general and the Middle School in particular. Xinyi has emerged from this pool as the strongest, most capable, and best fit candidate to continue stewarding our capable and experienced middle school faculty and leading our student and parent communities, with fidelity to the CAIS mission, as we face the challenges and opportunities over the next several years.
Xinyi 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.
Xinyi received the highest praise from her former colleagues, some of which I include below:
“Day-to-day she was on top of everything, very detail-oriented, scheduling in advance, anticipating needed changes, planning ahead and communicating effectively with staff under her care and across the leadership team. Strategically, in terms of long-term vision, Xinyi was always planning ahead and thinking about sustainability for staff and necessary program shifts to maintain outcomes.”
“She was with us for many years. I cried when she left. I remember thinking, what am I going to do without you? She felt irreplaceable.”
“She is one of the most skilled, relational, high-capacity, organized, self-directed, initiative-taking problem solvers I’ve worked with. She’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever worked with. I can’t say enough about what an amazing leader and person she is.”
In a message to the CAIS community, Xinyi writes:
“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.”
Please join me in welcoming Xinyi Xu into the CAIS community as our next Middle School Director.
Best,
Jeff Bissell | 毕杰夫
Head of School ｜ 校长