Students, teachers and administrators addressed multicultural issues in education today at the Multicultural Education Conference.

The day-long event, hosted by the Multi-Cultural Center, gathered a variety of speakers ranging from Sacramento State instructors to local elementary school teachers, as well as high school students.

Keynote speaker Francisco Reveles, a professor in the department of educational leadership and policy studies, said the message of the conference one of hope.

Reveles and other presenters raised issues of the difference in education levels of minority and non-minority students, commonly referred to as the achievement gap.

Overcoming obstacles in multicultural education was essential to the discussion. Some of the obstacles faced by students can include language differences, mobile lifestyles of migrant students and academic support, said Perla Duarte, graduate student in the counseling department at Sac State.

“Support is crucial to all students, we are trying to provide some strategies instructors and counselors can implement to help students,” Duarte said.

Eileen Pena and Chrishun Draper, teachers at Prairie Elementary School, presented information about increasing the involvement of fathers in their children’s education. Pena and Draper, who presented to a group of teachers, also spoke about peer conflict resolution.

Many presenters stressed that the impact of multicultural education reaches further than just the classroom. Speakers accentuated the argument by showing the outlook for multicultural persons who do not succeed in school.

The conference was broken into three sessions, preceded by a welcome message from Nadeen Ruiz, chair of the bilingual and multicultural education department, Vanessa Sheared, dean of the college of education, and Duane Campbell, professor of bilingual and multicultural education.

Derek Fleming can be reached at [email protected]