Colleen Keough

One day earlier this school year, Colleen Keough’s students at Hamilton Elementary School in Schenectady, New York, were unusually quiet. They were wondering the same thing she was: Why were so many other people suddenly gathering in their second-grade classroom?

The visitors included Keough’s family members, school colleagues, and the district superintendent, who shared with Keough and her students what the others already knew: Keough was the Schenectady City School District’s 2024 Teacher of the Year and a candidate for New York State 2025 Teacher of the Year [Editor’s Note: the New York State Board of Regents named Keough as the 2025 New York State Teacher of the Year on September 10, 2024, and she is now a now a National Teacher of the Year Candidate.]

“I started sobbing,” said Keough (They were happy tears!) 

The Schenectady-native was a newly-single mom of three kids when she attended Russell Sage College. Becoming a teacher had been a long-term goal that gained new urgency when she needed a reliable career that would allow her to provide for her family, she explained.  

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she continued, but the career she loves and the positive difference she is able to make for her students have been worth it. 

She’s honored by the recognition but admits to being attention-shy. Colleagues wanted to nominate her in the past, but she declined. When they later showed her some of the letters students wrote supporting her nomination, she decided that if it ever came up again, she’d go along with it, if only because it would bring her students such joy.  

The qualities that Keough’s colleagues, students, and their families cited when they nominated her for Teacher of the Year include the extra effort she puts into connecting with students’ parents and other caregivers; her knowledge of and commitment to trauma-sensitive practices; and her involvement in a renewed, active PTO. 

Keough joined the Schenectady School District in 2008 with a degree in Childhood Education and Psychology from Russell Sage. She taught first and fourth grades before she moved to second grade in 2013. 

“I love second graders,” she said. “They go from learning to read, to reading to learn. And it’s such growth!”

She also holds a master’s degree in literacy and said that fostering young readers has been exciting since she was an undergrad at Russell Sage and learning the exact literacy-instruction techniques that Schenectady was beginning to implement. 

“It was the cutting-edge stuff that we were learning in our undergrad classes! That was the stuff that Schenectady was doing, and I was so excited about it,” she added, describing how that knowledge boosted her confidence as a new teacher. 

She continues to follow the latest research by pursuing a microcredential in the science of reading and participating in several professional book groups. A recent read is The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–and How to Fix it by Natalie Wexler.

New York state is facing a critical shortage of qualified teachers, especially in low-resource communities like the one where Keough teaches. 

“It’s important to try to pave the way for these kiddos,” she said, and offers encouragement for anyone who has thought — even fleetingly — about teaching.

“If anyone is wondering, should I do this, should I not do this? My advice would be, find a teacher, and go to their room and just work in their room for a day, and you will fall in love with it,” Keough said. “I could be having a terrible day for whatever reason, these kids just make me smile. They make me laugh. And if you could be a shining light in their life, how could you not do it?”