Associate Director
dan.mueller@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 (or opportunity gap) by income and race, ranging from early childhood to post-secondary education and scholarship 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

• Evaluation studies of Project Early Kindergarten and Early Reading First (federal grant) which aim 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
• A long-term follow-up study of the impact of participation in STARBASE, a program that uses aerospace applications to stimulate elementary school students’ interest in science, math, technology and engineering
• Evaluation of Achievement Plus, a Saint Paul Public Schools-Wilder Foundation partnership for community schools, that includes three elementary schools
• An evaluation of the Power of YOU program. This program offered free tuition and support services to financially disadvantaged Minneapolis and St. Paul high school graduates to attend several local colleges
• Evaluations of scholarship programs that aim to foster post-secondary academic success, community service, and leadership among African American students and other minority or low-income students

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