As a Senior Program Associate in Mathematics, Haiwen Chu designs educative curriculum materials and professional learning experiences to expand math teachers’ capacity to teach students classified as English Learners. Chu leads professional development and coaches teachers in schools across the country. To improve policy, programs, and practice for English Learners, he designs and conducts mixed-methods studies and evaluations in partnership with districts, bringing his expertise in both causal research designs and descriptive observation methods. Chu publishes widely in both researcher and practitioner venues. He also serves on WestEd’s Institutional Review Board and contributes to strategic agencywide initiatives, such as expanding capacity for research and evaluation.
Chu is a co-principal investigator for the National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Chu is leading the iterative development of a summer bridge course for rising ninth grade students to support them in exploring key ideas of high school mathematics.
Chu taught mathematics to high school immigrants and English Learners in New York City, where he created projects connecting to students’ lived experiences. While in New York, Chu was a Math for America Master Teacher, taught graduate courses to in-service math teachers, and conducted research about culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy.
Chu holds a bachelor’s in mathematics from Harvard University, a master’s in mathematics teaching from Brooklyn College, and a PhD in Urban Education from the City University of New York.