Taica Hsu

Taica Hsu is a National Board Certified Teacher that has dedicated his professional career to writing and implementing social justice mathematics lessons and subverting the dominant paradigm that only white and Asian men can do mathematics. In his 11 years at Mission High School, he has served as department chair, mentor teacher, member of the Anti-Racist Teaching Committee, and advisor to the Queer Student Alliance. He has recruited a math department that is one of the most diverse in Mission’s history and was instrumental in convincing the Board of Education to detract math classrooms until the 11th grade, which has created more equitable learning environments for students of color in SFUSD. He has also taught college courses through the CalTeach Program at UC Berkeley and a math methods course at San Francisco State.

Taica is also the Co-Director of Mentoring and a founding mentor for Trellis Education, which supports new teachers during the first six years of their career. By employing research-based mentoring methods that focus on high-leverage teaching practices, he is revolutionizing the way STEM teachers are recruited, trained, and supported, which will keep more highly-effective teachers in the classroom. Taica has also created a space within Trellis for mentors of color to share best practices and strategically support new teachers of color.

Taica holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MA from Stanford University. He was selected as a Rockefeller Brothers Fellow for Aspiring Teachers of Color in 2007; a Berkeley Math for America Fellow in 2010; a Fund for Teachers Fellow in 2013; and an Oakland Surge Fellow in 2018. He received an award for his teaching from Teachers for Social Justice in 2011 and is one of three featured teachers in the book, Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph, published in 2015. Taica also organizes the Creating Balance Conference, which focuses on social justice and STEM education and hosts over 400 educators from around the nation every two years.

When he is not teaching, Taica enjoys training in the martial art, Tang Soo Do, where he holds a second-degree black belt; dancing in drag; and raising money for queer youth through his non-profit, Queens of the Castro.