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Richard Kahlenberg

Richard D. Kahlenberg is a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and author of Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy.

Recent Articles

It's Not the Teachers' Unions

Contrary to conventional wisdom on the right -- and now the left -- unions have actually been at the forefront of education-reform efforts.

Richard KahlenbergOct 12, 2010
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (Flickr/House Education and Labor Committee)

The resignation of Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee concludes the latest chapter in the ongoing war between free-market education reformers and teachers’ unions. Many Rhee supporters blame union opposition for the electoral defeat of Rhee’s boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty, and see unions as the biggest problem in education. In the much-discussed documentary, Waiting for Superman, in which Rhee is painted as a heroine, Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter declares, "It's very, very important to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time. Teachers are great, a national treasure. Teachers' unions are, generally speaking, a menace and an impediment to reform."

The Affirmative Action Trap

Obama is weighing in on the University of Texas's affirmative action policy, but it may be politically dangerous for him to do so.

Richard KahlenbergApr 01, 2010

For a Democratic administration to support racial affirmative action -- as the Obama administration is doing in a contentious lawsuit challenging the University of Texas at Austin's racial-preference admissions policy -- may seem natural and predictable. The administration filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, siding with the university in a lawsuit filed by two white students. But given President Barack Obama's past rhetoric on the issue, the decision to enter the fray is somewhat surprising -- and fraught with political danger.

Can Separate Be Equal?

The classroom is where poor and middle-class kids should meet -- to the benefit of both.

Richard KahlenbergAug 16, 2009
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

For generations, those seeking to break the cycle of poverty have divided into two camps: integrationists, who believe that separate schools and neighborhoods for rich and poor perpetuate poverty, and community organizers, who want to "fix" inner-city communities and schools rather than move people around. Generally speaking, integrationists have had stronger social-science research on their side, while community organizers have claimed to be more politically realistic.

Obama: Stay Away From Notre Dame's Commencement

Abortion has nothing to do with it. A progressive president shouldn't support an institution that reserves 25 percent of its admissions seats for legacies.

Richard KahlenbergMay 11, 2009
The University of Notre Dame has traditionally invited new presidents to address its student body at commencement. (Flickr)

Conservative Catholics have been berating Notre Dame for extending a commencement-speaking invitation to a pro-choice president. We agree that President Barack Obama shouldn't speak at Notre Dame -- but abortion has nothing to do with it. Notre Dame practices pervasive discrimination in its admissions policies. Every year the school reserves 25 percent of the seats in its entering class for children of alumni. These "legacy preferences" result in applicants being granted or denied admission based not on their merit but on their ancestry.

How the Left Can Avoid a New Education War

A battle is brewing between portions of the civil-rights community and teacher unions over the future of liberal education policy.

Richard KahlenbergJul 09, 2008

Just as Democrats have finally settled on a nominee and begun to unite, a major new fight has broken out between competing factions in the liberal education-policy community. One group argues that poverty should not be used as an excuse for failure and sees teacher unions as a major obstacle to promoting equity through education reform. The other group says education reform by itself cannot close the achievement gap between rich and poor and black and white without addressing larger economic inequalities in society. The battle, which can broadly be characterized as one between portions of the civil-rights community and teacher unions, is a movie we've seen before -- most explosively in the New York City teacher strikes of the 1960s -- and it doesn't end well. Sen.

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