Ronald F. Ferguson

Senior Lecturer in Education and Public Policy, GSE
HKS Collateral Appointment (GSE)
Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy
Office Address
Taubman-474
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 103
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-1104
Fax: 617-496-9053
Email: ronald_ferguson@Harvard.Edu
Ronald Ferguson

Profile

Ronald F. Ferguson, Senior Lecturer in Education and Public Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School, is also an economist and Senior Research Associate at the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. He has taught at Harvard since 1983, focusing on education and economic development. His research and writing for the past decade have focused on racial achievement gaps, appearing in a variety of publications. His most recent book is Toward Excellence with Equity: An emerging vision for closing the achievement gap, published by Harvard Education Press. He is the creator of the Tripod Project for School Improvement and also the faculty co-chair and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University. Ferguson earned an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and PhD from MIT, both in economics. He is the father of two and very happily married to Helen Mont-Ferguson.

Courses

Spring

  • SUP-470 Strategies and Policies for Narrowing Racial Achievement Gaps

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journal/Scholarly Articles
    • Ferguson, Ronald. "Racial Tensions and Teacher Engagement in Professional Learning." Perspectives (Winter 2010): 12-16.
  • Book Chapters
    • Ferguson, Ronald. "Modernizing Federal Influence on American Schools." Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit: Lessons from a Half-Century of Federal Efforts to Improve America's Schools. Ed. Frederick M. Hess and Andrew P. Kelly. Harvard Education Press, 2012, 253-272.
    • Ferguson, Ronald. "How Students’ Views Predict Graduation Outcomes and Reveal Instructional Disparities under Children First Reforms." Education Reform in New York City: Ambitious Change in the Nation's Most Complex School System. Ed. O’Day, Jennifer A., Catherine S. Bitter, and Louis M. Gomez. Harvard Education Press, 2011, 225-254.
  • Magazine and Newspaper Articles
    • Ferguson, Ronald. "Racial Tensions and Teacher Engagement in Professional Learning." Massachusetts Association for Supervision and Curriculum Design (MASCD) Perspectives Online. Winter 2010.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Ferguson, Ronald F., Sandra Hackman, Robert Hanna, and Ann Ballantine. "How High Schools Become Exemplary." AGI Conference Report, June 1, 2010.