GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

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.) (more…)