Language Immersion School in San Francisco Welcomes Visionary Middle School Director
Chinese American International School
Founded in 1981 as the first Mandarin immersion school in the United States, the Chinese American International School (CAIS) educates 571 students aged two through 8th grade. Over the last four decades, CAIS has been recognized globally as a leader in bilingual education and an innovator for its commitment to immersive, cultural education through the study of language. CAIS is “a safe place to tinker and try,” with deep support for educators who lead with curiosity and vision and a culture that values creativity, risk-taking, and collaboration. Within the middle school, students in grades 6–8 study an intellectually challenging, competency-based curriculum that includes math, science, design technology, English language arts, social studies, Chinese language arts and social studies, music, studio art, and physical education.
With the upcoming retirement of the current middle school director, who has been at CAIS since 2014, the school looked forward to welcoming its next middle school director to lead an outstanding academic program and foster community connection across the school’s new, unified campus.
The director oversees the ongoing implementation of competency-based learning in the middle school program, and promotes Mandarin immersion excellence that distinguishes CAIS among its peers in an increasingly competitive market. This is an exciting opportunity for a mission-driven academic leader to join a visionary community and help define what it means to be a CAIS graduate in a global, multilingual world. The next middle school director will also join CAIS two years after the school relocated to a single, spectacular, unified campus, following a period of operations on three separate campuses. Reporting to the head of school, the middle school director will directly supervise middle school faculty and learning specialists, and the athletic director. CAIS looked forward to welcoming the incoming director to begin July 1, 2026.
The Chinese American International School was thrilled to welcome Xinyi Xu to the position.
Meet the new leader
Xinyi Xu brings a blend of deep classroom expertise and strategic leadership, with 7 years of impactful teaching experience and over a decade of progressive leadership in high-impact dual language immersion programs. As Chief Schools Officer at Level Learning, she drove national strategy and implementation for a data-driven, competency-based language and literacy platform reaching the majority of K–8 Mandarin immersion programs across the U.S. Previously, at Yu Ming Charter School, she held multiple senior leadership roles, spearheading competency-based learning initiatives and leading the development of a comprehensive K–8 immersion program. Ms. Xu holds an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from Michigan State University and a B.A. in Early Childhood Education from East China Normal University, along with California administrative and bilingual teaching credentials.
