Kiel is an applied researcher specializing in mixed-methods research and evaluation of educational programs and interventions. His research primarily focuses on professional learning initiatives supporting school culture and climate, teaching, and learning. Kiel is motivated by his past experience as a classroom teacher and an instructional coach to produce research that is applicable and actionable at the school- and classroom-level.

Kiel is currently a Senior Researcher with Basis Policy Research, an independent research organization specializing in data analytics, program evaluation, and applied research in PreK-20 education. He is currently the lead evaluator on several projects for state-level, district-level, and postsecondary partners. In addition to a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Kiel holds a master’s degree from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s from Bowdoin College.

When he isn’t deeply involved in coding data or writing reports, Kiel enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, trying new recipes, reading a newspaper cover-to-cover, or dreaming about the outdoors, particularly the next opportunity to go camping. He lives by Sir Winston Churchill’s words: “For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else.”