Prior to joining the Sacramento County Office of Education in July 2004, David W. Gordon served as Superintendent of the Elk Grove Unified School District. Elk Grove is an ethnically and economically diverse district of more than 55,600 students covering 320 square miles of Sacramento County, CA, where he was responsible for 51 schools and budgets totaling $500 million. One of the fastest growing districts in the nation, Elk Grove is expected to grow to 80,000 students by 2010.

From 1991 to 1995, Gordon served as Elk Grove's Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education. Prior to coming to Elk Grove, he worked for 17 years in the California State Department of Education.

From 1985 to 1991, Gordon was the Deputy State Superintendent of Public Instruction. From 1983 to 1985, he was Associate Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Gordon was Assistant Director of Program Evaluation and Research, and had lead responsibility for developing California's student proficiency tests and the CBEST Teacher Competency Test, which was initiated in 1982. Gordon began his career as an elementary school teacher in the South Bronx, New York, in 1968.

He holds a BA degree from Brandeis University and an Ed.M. and Certificate of Advanced Study (C.A.S.) in Educational Administration from Harvard University.

Gordon was appointed by former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress (the "Nation's Report Card"). He was then appointed by President George W. Bush to the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education.

Gordon has served as an Associate in Education at Harvard University, a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and a visiting professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California Curriculum Development Commission, and the Far West Laboratory (now WestEd) Board of Directors.

He has presented at the White House at the invitation of First Lady Laura Bush, has been a panelist on the U. S. Department of Education's cable television show, has testified before the U.S. Congress and state legislatures in California and around the nation, and is a frequent speaker at major conferences.

Gordon was named 2002 Elk Grove Citizen Newsmaker and Man of the Year. He also has been an active volunteer in the Sacramento area, serving as a board member of the Jewish Foundation of Northern California and a member of the Elk Grove Rotary Club. He was a recent past board member of the YMCA and Capital Unity Council.