[1] Major themes in his work relate to the race-related achievement gap in the United States and how to improve schools, identify effective teachers, and strengthen parenting practices.
He retired from teaching in 2024 after 41 years on the faculty at Harvard Kennedy School, where he retains an affiliation with the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy.
[6] In 1999, two dozen nationally prominent social scientists in NCDPAN completed the volume Urban Problems and Community Development, published by Brookings Press.
[9] In 2005, Ferguson became the faculty director and co-chair with professors Charles Ogletree and Richard Murnane of the Achievement Gap Initiative (AGI) at Harvard University.
His work has been published by numerous organizations including, but not limited to, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Research Council, and the Brookings Institution.
[13] In December 2007, Ferguson's book Toward Excellence with Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Gap was published by Harvard Education Press and released to the public.