Melody Musgrove, Ph.D., Director, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education

Melody Musgrove has worked as a classroom teacher, school administrator, district special education director and assistant superintendent before serving as state director of special education for Mississippi Department of Education until January, 2007. From 2007 until 2010, she was director of business development for LRP Publications, the nation’s leading publisher of legal and regulatory guidance for educators. Musgrove’s career is distinguished by her commitment to collaborative frameworks that find creative solutions to difficult educational problems. She is focused on improving outcomes for all children, and experienced in using data to influence systemic improvement decisions. During her tenure as state director of special education, students with disabilities achieved improved results in reading and math, schools implemented more inclusive practices, graduation rates increased, and drastic steps were taken to halt disproportionate identification of African-American students for special education. Musgrove was selected by the White House to be director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) for the U.S. Department of Education, and assumed the role in August of 2010. Melody and her husband, Ronnie, have four children ranging in age from 22 to 27, all of whom graduated from Mississippi’s public schools, and a rescued shelter dog named Noah. They divide their time between homes in Madison, Mississippi and Washington, DC.