David Kirp is a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the National Academy of Education, a contributing writer to The New York Times and a senior scholar at the Learning Policy Institute, a "think-and-do" tank.

In his seventeen books and hundreds of articles, he has concentrated on pivotal education and youth issues from cradle to college and career.

He was a trustee of Amherst College and has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including Experience Corps, Friends of the Children, the Coro Leadership Center of San Francisco and the ACLU of Northern California.

He served on President Barack Obama's transition team, where he drafted policy agendas for early education and community schools.

[citation needed] Among Kirp's books are The Sandbox Investment: The Universal Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics and Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education.