Education Nation: The Lineup

I'm headed to New York this weekend to cover Education Nation, a veritable media blitz organized by NBC that will examine the state of education in the U.S. Here's the lineup for the three-day event:

• Teacher Townhall. Hosted by Brian Williams, the town hall will air live on MSNBC and stream on educationnation.com, scholastic.com, ivillage.com at 12 pm EDT on Sunday, Sept. 26. Teachers can register to participate in the conversation. Must be noted here that rank-and-file educators have criticized the lack of teacher representation on any of the panels.

• Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is said to be making an important announcement on Monday.
• A Learning Plaza is being created at Rockefeller Center, with five interactive galleries: the Learner, the Educator, the School & Community, the Nation, and the Call to Action, and there will be a "Teaching Garden" in the Plaza that will show the link between nutrition and learning.

The panels will address a slew of heady topics -- I wish I could clone myself to attend them all:

- Preparing America's students to compete in the global economy.

- Bringing the technology revolution to the schoolhouse

- How do we reinvent the status quo at all levels?

- How can the politics of education put students first?

- Educating the Digital Generation

- Level the playing field before school begins

-Is education the civil rights issue of our time?

- What can we learn from the global leaders in education?

• President Obama will be interviewed by Matt Lauer on Monday, Sept. 27 at 8 a.m. EST.
• General Colin Powell, who's the founding chairman of America's Promise Alliance, and Alma Powell, will speak on "Morning Joe on Tuesday, Sept. 28."

That's a lot of wattage for one event. I'll be reporting from the event, so check back!