David P. Driscoll

commissioner, Department of Education

David P. Driscoll is the former commissioner of education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has worked in public education and educational leadership for forty three years. A former secondary school mathematics teacher, Driscoll was named assistant superintendent of Melrose, MA, schools in 1972 and then superintendent in 1984. He served in that role until 1993, when he was appointed Massachusetts deputy commissioner of education, just days after the states Education Reform Act was signed into law. Driscoll became interim commissioner of education on July 1, 1998, and was named commissioner on March 10, 1999. As deputy commissioner, Driscoll held several key leadership roles, both in the external affairs of the education department and in internal management. He was the principal investigator for the National Science Foundations mathematics and science program in Massachusetts, PALMS, and was instrumental in gaining the NSF's approval of a second five-year round of funding for this initiative in 1997. He was also appointed to oversee the implementation of the state agreement on management and governance of the Lawrence Public Schools. Driscoll is currently the outgoing president of the Council of Chief State School Officers and serves on the board of the National Assessment Governing Board.