Kathleen Ferguson (2011)
2011 Robert Ludwig Teacher of the Year
Katie Ferguson is a National Board-Certified Early Childhood Generalist and an English Language Arts Instructional Support Coach at Paige Elementary School. She grew up in Schenectady and proudly graduated from Mont Pleasant High School in 1992. She attended SUNY Oneonta, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Upon returning to Schenectady, Katie attended Sage Graduate School to achieve her Masters of Science in Education and began her career in teaching.
Katie has had a passion for teaching since she joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet School of Math, Science, Technology, and Invention as a first grade teacher in 1998. During this time Katie was recognized for her extensive work with videoconferencing through Project VIEW. In 2007, Katie became a part of the Jessie T. Zoller Elementary School community as a 2nd grade teacher where she was lucky enough to join the teachers in participating in a grant which enabled her to learn and grow as a literacy educator and to lead professional development in literacy. In May 2010, Katie was awarded Teacher of the Year by the Schenectady City School District, which led to her being selected as the 2012 New York State Teacher of the Year. In her role as New York State Teacher of the Year, Katie has had the opportunity to speak at colleges across the state as well as nationally, lead professional development at numerous conferences, and was fortunate to have several television appearances including Connect NY with Susan Arbetter and the WMHT American Graduate Project. She was also named an NEA Pearson Global Learning Fellow and received the California Casualty Award for Excellence. Recently, Katie was fortunate to participate in a talk with teachers from around the nation, hosted by Gerard Robinson called “The Culture of Educating Our Youngest Students”, and to post a blog titled “Live, Work, and Play with our Littlest to Build Community” on the CultureFeed website. She made the leap from second grade teacher to an ELA Instructional Support Coach in September, 2022.
As a teacher and instructional coach dedicated to advocating for other teachers and their students, Katie has also had the privilege of collaborating with teachers from around the state on the New York State Teacher of the Year Council (currently), on the Commissioner’s Advisory Council at the New York State Education Department (previously), and is currently a Co-Chair for the New York State Education Department Professional Standards and Practices Board. In her spare time, she likes to volunteer for Kitten Angels, read, paint, and spend time with her family.
*In 2010-11 the gala moved from November to January so there was no 2010 event.
