Four events to launch the education-conversation season

It’s officially education-conversation season! In the next two days alone, two city officials will debate their critics at public forums notable for their relative mainstream-ness. (Venues this month range from the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca to The Economist’s two-day ideas festival.)

Since we’re co-hosting one of these events — a panel next Wednesday on the future of teaching — I figured I’d do a quick roundup of the highlights from the calendar. Here are four opportunities to debate, including one that doesn’t require you to leave your computer.

1. Chief Accountability Officer v. Chief Critic: A Lunchtime Smackdown

Tomorrow, head to New York Law School on your lunch break to watch Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, debate sit on a panel with Shael Suransky, the city’s deputy chancellor for accountability. Haimson is a devoted student of the flaws in the city’s progress reports, which Suransky makes, and which will be coming out soon.

(UPDATE: The panel won’t have a debate format, reports its moderator a New York Law professor.)

When: September 15, 2010, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm

Where: New York Law School, 185 W. Broadway

More info

2. An Online Conversation about Teaching, Among Teachers

A new project launching this week invites New York teachers to an online conversation that the group is calling an “idea mine.” The goal is to start with a conversation — and end with a report that will present policy recommendations directly to the state Board of Regents.

When: Ongoing

Where: http://vivany.vivateachers.org/home

3. Imagining the “Future of Teaching” — 30 Years from Now

The Y+30 event series aims to imagine what different sectors will look like 30 years from now. What about teaching? I am co-hosting a panel discussion about that question next Wednesday with Nick Ehrmann, the founder of Blue Engine, a new nonprofit service program. Panelists include KIPP’s David Levin; Joel Rose of the School of One; Becky Crowe Hill of, most recently, Partners in School Innovation; and Alex Grodd, the founder of Better Lesson.

When: Wednesday, Sept. 22, 6:30 pm

Where: 92nd St. Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson St.

More info

4. Diane Ravitch and Eva Moskowitz on “the Nature of Learning”

The Economist’s two-day long event about the “ideas economy” includes an appearance this week by two people who’ve said unflattering things about each other in public: the education historian and author Diane Ravitch and the charter school leader Eva Moskowitz.

When: Thursday, Sept. 16, 12:35 pm

Where: Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers; 23rd Street and the Hudson River

More info