Shirley H. Xu

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, and a 2024-2025 NAEd/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellow. I am on the 2024-2025 job market.

Rooted in my lived experiences as both a former public high school teacher and the Chinese American daughter of immigrant parents, my research examines how race, ethnicity, and immigration shape and are shaped by education policies, politics, and research itself. As an interdisciplinary scholar and mixed-methods researcher, I draw upon theoretical perspectives across economics, political science, sociology, and social psychology and employ a range of qualitative, descriptive, and quasi-experimental quantitative methodological approaches.

My dissertation project uses in-depth interviews and original survey data to examine public opinion formation and political mobilization within Asian American communities regarding controversial admissions reforms at selective public high schools on two different coasts. Ongoing research collaborations as an affiliate with the Tennessee Education Research Alliance and University of Houston Education Research Center leverage statewide administrative data to investigate the barriers to recruiting and retaining teachers and school leaders of color and the effect of secondary-grade reclassification on the academic and employment outcomes of formerly English-learner-identified students. 

Prior to graduate school, I taught high school English and ESL in the Houston metropolitan area. I received my B.A. in English and teaching certification in 7-12 English Language Arts and Reading from Rice University.