Associate Director

dan@wilder.org

Dan has more than 30 years of research experience in education, health, and human services. He has directed evaluations of education and social service programs, and demonstration projects, often involving extensive follow-up of program participants. He has also directed large community needs assessment studies that have included surveys of community residents, service providers, and leaders.

Since the early 1990s, his primary focus has been on studies of programs designed to improve the school success of disadvantaged children and youth. He has conducted outcome evaluation studies of programs aimed at reducing the achievement gap (by income and race), ranging from early childhood to post-secondary education programs. A number of these studies have had longitudinal designs in which cohorts of students and controls were followed over multiple years.

Dan received his doctorate in Sociology from Yale University.

Recent projects

• An evaluation of Project Early Kindergarten which aims to increase the school readiness of preschoolers from disadvantaged backgrounds
• A study for the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation on the impact of Family Literacy programs on at-risk children's preparation for Kindergarten
• Member of a St. Paul Public Schools technical advisory group for strategic plan evaluation and general accountability measurements
• Collaboration with Casey Family Programs to develop and implement a data-sharing network of scholarship programs for foster care youth
• An evaluation of the Power of YOU program. This program offers free tuition and support services to financially disadvantaged Minneapolis and St. Paul high school graduates to attend several local colleges.
• An evaluation of two Iowa West Foundation need-based scholarship programs

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