Joanna Yip is a policy lead at EdTrust-New York, where she supports the organization’s policy agenda for multilingual learners and immigrant students. She collaborates with partners to improve systems for multilingual learner success with a focus on curriculum and instruction, language and literacy development, access to counseling resources, and culturally responsive understandings of the role of immigration in education.
Prior to joining EdTrust-New York, Joanna served as the Director of State and District Engagements at the English Learners Success Forum, where she led the development and implementation of programming and services for state agencies, districts, and professional learning organizations to advance a shared understanding of multilingual learner inclusion in curriculum adoption and implementation. She was a network-level instructional lead at New Visions for Public Schools and an instructional coach at the Internationals Network for Public Schools. She is the co-author of two books on serving multilingual learners, Schoolwide Systems for Multilingual Learner Success with Lisa Auslander, and Sentence Strategies for Multilingual Learners: Advancing Academic Literacy through Combinations with Nell Panero. She teaches as an adjunct instructor in teacher and school administrator preparation programs in New York City.
Joanna holds a Ph.D. in urban education policy from the CUNY Graduate Center, a master’s in TESOL from Hunter College, and a bachelor’s in English Literature from Barnard College. She received her school leadership training at The Leadership Academy and professional coaching certification through the Co-Active Training Institute and New York University’s School for Professional Studies. Joanna is a proud Cantonese-speaking New Yorker born and raised in Chinatown and still lives in the city with her family.
What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work? (Ex. Hobbies, volunteer work)
I am a weaver, mostly working with small tapestry looms.
What drew you to education? I fell in love with teaching at the Breakthrough Collaborative when I was an undergraduate, teaching middle schoolers in NYC and local high school students in Hong Kong. After that, I got my first job after college as a high school English teacher in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Since then, I’ve dedicated most of my career to improving systems for linguistically marginalized students.
Why are you passionate about working at Ed Trust?
I am proud to work with teammates who believe that education is a right for all children and young people.
