PPI - Radically Pragmatic
  • Donate
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Locations
    • Careers
  • People
  • Projects
  • Our Work
  • Events
  • Donate

People

Richard D. Kahlenberg

Director of Housing Policy and the American Identity Project

Richard D. Kahlenberg is the Director of Housing Policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, and the Director of the American Identity Project, where he is working on to strengthen American identity through public education. The author or editor of eighteen books, he has expertise in education, civil rights, and equal opportunity. Kahlenberg has been called “the intellectual father of the economic integration movement” in K–12 schooling and “arguably the nation’s chief proponent of class-based affirmative action in higher education admissions.” He is also an authority on teachers’ unions, charter schools, community colleges, housing segregation, and labor organizing.

Kahlenberg’s articles have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and elsewhere. He has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, C-SPAN, MSNBC, and NPR.

Previously, Kahlenberg was a nonresident scholar at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a fellow at the Center for National Policy, a visiting associate professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, and a legislative assistant to Senator Charles S. Robb (D-VA). He also serves on the advisory board of the Pell Institute, and the Albert Shanker Institute, and as a professorial lecturer at George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. In addition, he is the winner of the William A. Kaplin Award for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy Scholarship. Reflecting on Kahlenberg’s work on higher education, William G. Bowen and Michael S. McPherson wrote that he “deserves more credit than anyone else for arguing vigorously and relentlessly for stronger efforts to address disparities by socioeconomic status.” He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a Rotary scholar at the University of Nairobi School of Journalism.

Recent Work

In the News  |  June 5, 2025

Kahlenberg on Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger: Has Affirmative Action FAILED?

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
In the News  |  June 3, 2025

Kahlenberg in CBS News: Colleges are slightly less diverse as admissions officers seek ways to adapt post-affirmative action

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
Op-Ed  |  May 23, 2025

Kahlenberg for DC Journal: Counterpoint: Young Americans Would Not Rally Around Our Nation, But Don’t Blame Them

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
Op-Ed  |  May 20, 2025

Kahlenberg for American Affairs: Renewing the Democratic Party

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
In the News  |  May 12, 2025

Kahlenberg in Washington Monthly: Diversity Without Racial Preference

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
Feature  |  May 12, 2025

Kahlenberg Q&A with Bloomberg: Liberals Should Focus on Class, Not Race

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
Podcast  |  May 9, 2025

Kahlenberg on Good Trouble Podcast: On Beyond DEI

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg
Op-Ed  |  May 7, 2025

Kahlenberg for The 74: A Way Out of SCOTUS Charter School Ruling Mess: Focus on Mission, Not Religion

  • Richard D. Kahlenberg

Related Projects

American Identity Project

  • Never miss an update:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
PPI Logo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Donate
  • Careers
  • © 2025 Progressive Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved.
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • |
  • Privacy Settings