"Education Nation" to Spotlight Effective Teaching in Action with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Unique Session Goes Live into America's Classrooms and Discusses the Power of Great Teaching

NBC News Reveals Additional Panel Topics for the 2011 Summit

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Monday, Sept. 26, "Education Nation" takes a live look into classrooms around the country to see firsthand what effective teaching truly looks like. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President of the National Education Association Dennis Van Roekel will participate in a discussion about how and why these classrooms were selected and the overall power of great teaching. NBC News' Ann Curry will moderate the session entitled, Classrooms In Action: A Window On Great Teaching.

"The best way to share effective teaching practices is to go live into classrooms," said Michael Chen, President of the Strategic Initiatives Group & Education Nation at NBC News. "Teachers are the most trusted people in education doing the most important work imaginable  - working with our children.  We want to shine a spotlight on both the importance of great teaching and some examples of success that can be shared with others across the country."

Additional confirmed sessions at the "Education Nation" Summit include:

What's In A ZIP Code? A Look At Inequality Across Our Public Schools - President Obama has said that education is the civil rights issue of our time.  Schools face unprecedented pressure to increase achievement for the most disadvantaged students, but is it possible to fix education without first fixing poverty?  A national movement has coalesced around the idea that effective teaching trumps all, while many prominent educators say that even the best schools can't overcome basic issues like poor health and poverty, pointing to stark inequities in the system.  NBC News' Brian Williams will moderate this discussion on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Global Influence: What Can We Learn? - Compared to the rest of the world, U.S. high school students rank 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math - at or below the international average in all three subjects - and the country has fallen from leading the world to now ranking ninth when it comes to young adults who complete college.  To have a globally competitive economy and workforce, what should America be learning from the leading nations?  And with new research suggesting that we're not heeding the lessons from these countries, will the U.S. rise to the challenge? NBC News' Chief Education Correspondent Rehema Ellis will moderate this session on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Additional information regarding panel topics and confirmed participants will soon follow.  To read more about sessions previously announced, visit EducationNation.com/2011Summit. "Education Nation" sessions will be available for live or delayed viewing on EducationNation.com .

The 2011 Summit kicks off on Sunday, September 25 with "Meet the Press" at Rockefeller Plaza, followed by a two-hour Teacher Town Hall televised on MSNBC beginning at 12:00 P.M./ET. For the entire week of September 25, "Nightly News," "Today," MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, The Weather Channel, msnbc.com, theGrio.com, EducationNation.com, iVillage and NBC's affiliate stations will highlight educational success stories, uncover sometimes staggering truths and myths about education, and help demonstrate how poor education cripples our economy and society.

What's In A Zip Code? A Look At Inequality In Our Schools is supported by Target. Sponsors of the 2011 "Education Nation" Summit include University of Phoenix, State Farm(r), Microsoft, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Bezos Family Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Knowledge Partners include America's Promise Alliance.

"Education Nation" seeks to create a thoughtful, well-informed dialogue with policymakers, thought-leaders, educators, parents and the public, in pursuit of the shared goal of providing every American with an opportunity to achieve the best education in the world. These discussions cover the challenges, potential solutions and innovations spanning the education landscape. By providing quality information to the public, NBC News hopes to educate Americans so they can make decisions about how best to improve our education system both in the near and long terms, and to shine a spotlight on one of the most urgent national issues of our time, so that America can once again become the Education Nation of the world.

For more information about "Education Nation," visit EducationNation.com , check us out on Facebook: facebook.com/EducationNation or follow us on Twitter @EducationNation.

SOURCE University of Phoenix