Education Chief Plans to Exit in '07
Driscoll took tough stand on MCAS, charter schools
Tracy Jan
Boston Globe
October 30, 2006
MALDEN -- State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll will step down on Aug. 31 after a tenure in which he oversaw efforts to toughen graduation requirements, mandated that students in nearly every grade take state tests, and fended off lawsuits about school funding and the MCAS.
Driscoll, 64, plans to announce his retirement at a press conference this morning , just a week before a gubernatorial election that will shape the future of public education in Massachusetts.
He will leave at a critical juncture, after the state Board of Education this month raised graduation requirements by requiring students to score even higher on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System or be forced to take extra courses before earning a diploma.
Driscoll, who has served under several Republican governors since becoming interim commissioner in 1998, oversaw a pivotal period in Massachusetts education. He has won praise for pushing through some controversial elements of education reform amid budget cuts, but his support of charter schools and occasional criticism of unions made the former high school math teacher unpopular among some teachers.
The commissioner's plan to depart signals major change in the education department, which will also lose three other Board of Education members, including its chairman, James A. Peyser. Governor Mitt Romney is expected to make at least two appointments, including a new chairman, by mid-November.
The expected move raises the question of whether Romney, who shares Driscoll's support of MCAS and charter schools, will stack the board with like-minded members.
The next governor would inherit the nine-member board, most of whom will have been appointed by Romney, but could choose a new chairman from among existing members, and could reconstitute the board only with legislative approval.
"Clearly, it's going to be a time of change in state education policy," said Paul Reville, president of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy and one of the architects of Massachusetts education reform. Driscoll "was often whipsawed between a board and a field who were frequently at odds with one another. Someone with lesser political skills would not have survived very long in that position."
Driscoll, a registered Democrat, said the timing of his departure has nothing to do with politics. He said he and his wife, Kathleen, a reading teacher at North Shore Regional Vocational High School, made the decision to retire several months ago. He hopes that after a national search, his successor will be named by early summer.
"It's the right timing for someone else coming in," Driscoll said yesterday in an interview in his office, which was decorated with memorabilia from his 42-year career in public education. "This gives the next governor an opportunity to be a part of that search process."
Under Driscoll's watch, scores on state and national tests have risen. National education organizations have touted Massachusetts schools as among the nation's best. The number of charter schools has more than doubled, from 24 in 1998 to 59 today.
Romney, in a phone interview yesterday, hailed Driscoll as a commissioner who resisted political pressure and focused on improving failing schools.
"David has been a leader who has put the kids and their education before anything else, before politics, before the teachers union, before public opinion," Romney said. "He has defended the MCAS against all attacks, and he has promoted charter schools against all attacks."
Driscoll, a former superintendent of schools in Melrose and deputy education commissioner, has angered parents and educators who say he has focused too much on test scores. He won a lawsuit filed by critics who asserted that MCAS discriminates against minorities and special education students.
"His zeal for MCAS has been very troubling," said Ruth Kaplan, a Brookline School Committee member who has declared that MCAS is a factor in dropouts.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers' union, along with some principals and superintendents, have said that the state's system for holding schools accountable is unfair because Massachusetts state tests are among the most difficult in the nation. Under federal regulations, more than a third of Massachusetts schools have been declared underperforming for at least two years.
Driscoll, who received raises in his salary based partially on improvements in students' test scores, acknowledges his critics, and said that making MCAS a graduation requirement is not enough to motivate students.
"We can't get kids to the next level strictly by using sticks," he said. "Somewhere along the line we must introduce carrots to motivate and engage students so they're not learning out of fear, but out of a thirst for knowledge."
That will be his successor's challenge, Driscoll said, along with paying more attention to students' social, emotional, and physical needs.
"This is a watershed moment," said Peyser, who in 1999 competed with Driscoll for the commissioner position before becoming board chairman. "The biggest challenge lies before us -- converting the policy of high expectations into the reality in the classroom."
Peyser said he expects the board to begin searching for a commissioner in January.
Anne Wass, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said she would like to see a commissioner who seeks more input from teachers and considers them partners.
Driscoll urged the next commissioner to continue the focus on raising achievement. "The strength of public education in Massachusetts has been its ability to stay steady during many changes, regardless of whether it's a Democrat or Republican governor," he said. 
