Sacramento State and local members of educational institutions offered students the opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of the achievement gap and methods for overcoming barriers between multicultural students.

Hosted by the Multi-Cultural Center at Sac State, the Multicultural Education Conference addressed multicultural issues in education.

Dr. Francisco Reveles, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and keynote speaker, said the message of the conference was a message of hope.

“It is of importance that we take children of all cultures from a survival way of looking at their education to one that emphasizes success,” Reveles said.

Presenters in several different discussions raised issues of the difference in education levels of minority and non-minority students.

Alistiar Turner, graduate student of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Sac State, said Reveles’ address was particularly informative. Turner said he learned strategies to overcome the achievement gap, such as “counseling and student support structures.”

Presenters ranged from Sac State instructors to local elementary school teachers and even high school students.

Eileen Pena and Chrishun Draper, teachers at Praire Elementary School, presented information to a group of teachers about involving fathers more in their children’s education and peer-conflict resolution.

Eric Dyer, instructor at Woodland High School, brought two students with him to demonstrate multicultural education in action. The students were on-hand to demonstrate a floral-arranging class offered by Dyer. Dyer said the class gives students an opportunity to exercise subjects, such as accounting, reading, science, writing and math.

One of Dyer’s students, Alondra Riviera, said the experience of presenting at Sac State was beneficial because it showed that there are instructors that care and are trying to make things better, something that she said she feels many students don’t believe.

Riviera said the conference gave her hope for the future.

Another student presenter, Lilia Chavez, was happy to have the opportunity to practice her public speaking skills.

The conference examined some of the obstacles multicultural students face, including 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.

Jennie Duran, graduate student in the Counseling Department at Sac State, said awareness of the difficulties and challenges of the migrant lifestyle is key to closing the achievement gap.

Sandra Brown, associated coordinator at Elk Grove High School and Sac State alumna, said teachers make the biggest difference in closing the achievement gap. This is accomplished through training instructors to aid English-language learners.

Alberto Lozano, professor of Bilingual and Multicultural Education at Sac State, said part of the problem with multicultural education at the present time is the No Child Left Behind Act, a program that forces instructors to teach for testing, not for knowledge.

Reveles said the conference made it possible to influence what direction education is going to go.

Lozano said he was happy to see many graduate students in attendance, both as presenters and as listeners. He said one thing that could improve at Sac State is the number of people that show up for conferences such as this one.

The event was broken into three sessions, preceded by a welcome message from Dr. Nadeen Ruiz, chair for the Bilingual and Multicultural Education Department; Dr. Vanessa Sheared, dean of the College of Education; and Dr. Duane Campbell, professor of Bilingual and Multicultural Education.

Derek Fleming can be reached at [email protected].