Xinyu Guan is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she completed a doctoral minor in Quantitative Research Methods. Her research examines PK–12 school finance and the policies that shape whether multilingual learners of English receive the resources they need to thrive. Her dissertation, a three- paper study, analyzes funding inequities, institutional capacity, and the limits of multilingual-learner finance in Wisconsin.

As a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, she has contributed to Wallace Foundation–funded projects on equity-centered leadership across seven states and Washington, D.C. Her social network analysis of equity-focused policy networks appears in the Journal of Professional Capital & Community, and she co-authored a chapter in the International Handbook of School Effectiveness and Improvement (2nd ed.).

Recognizing gaps in public resource data, Xinyu and her team develop equity indicators grounded in FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles and integrate administrative, demographic, and finance data into public-facing analyses. This work was presented at AEFP in 2025 as Building FAIR School Finance Data Systems: A Multi-State and Federal Analysis. Her work also appears in Texas Education Review and the Journal of Education Human Resources. She presents regularly at AERA, AEFP, and UCEA and is a 2024-2026 UCEA Jackson Scholar.

Earlier, Xinyu was a Cambridge Certified TESOL teacher who taught English across Asian countries—an experience that sparked her commitment to language access and educational equity. She holds a Master of Science in Higher Education from UW–Madison and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Economics from McMaster University.