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ADVANCING RESEARCH, IMPROVING EDUCATION  

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Michael C. Vaden-Kiernan
Director of Research & Evaluation

Photo of Michael C. Vaden-KiernanMichael Vaden-Kiernan is SEDL's Director of Research & Evaluation. In this role, he provides oversight and support to all of SEDL’s research and evaluation activities. Currently, Dr. Vaden-Kiernan is leading a national, large-scale, 4-year cluster randomized trial assessing the effectiveness of the Open Court Reading program, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education Research, and a 3-year quasi-experimental study evaluating an innovative early literacy curriculum as part of an Early Reading First grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, he manages all evaluation studies conducted by SEDL, including current evaluations of the Texas and Southeast Comprehensive Centers, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and evaluations of two science and space programs developed by the Lunar Planetary Institute and funded through NASA. Dr. Vaden-Kiernan also serves on the SEDL Management Council.

Contact Information
You may contact Michael C. Vaden-Kiernan at 512-391-6562

or by using SEDL's contact form.

Areas of Expertise
Dr. Vaden-Kiernan has more than 15 years of experience designing and implementing rigorous research and evaluation studies to address education policy questions. His research interests include early childhood education, assessment of literacy and reading interventions, comprehensive school reform, community and neighborhood research and measurement, experimental and non-experimental research designs and management, large-scale assessment, and mixed-methods data collection and analysis.

Experience
Dr. Vaden-Kiernan joined SEDL in March 2005. He has spent the majority of his professional career conducting research and evaluation studies for agencies with the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Health and Human Services. From 1995 to 2005, he served as a project director and senior research analyst with Abt Associates and then with the CDM Group, during which time his work focused on the areas of education, child development, and family studies. He has also worked on a number of federally funded K–12 and early-childhood education evaluations and has presented his work at numerous professional conferences and in peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and technical reports.

In 2006, Dr. Vaden-Kiernan received SEDL's Rogers L. Barton Award, a Presidential Award given annually to honor outstanding contributions to SEDL’s educational research and development.

Education
Dr. Vaden-Kiernan holds a BA in psychology from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and both a master’s degree and a PhD in community psychology from the University of Virginia. He was also a post-doctoral fellow at the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

SEDL Publications

Selected External Publications
Selected Presentations



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