County educator conference addresses student achievement gap

Nearly 900 Riverside County teachers and administrators attended the fourth annual Excellence Through Equity Conference in Indian Wells Thursday.

The two-day conference began Thursday morning brought together educators from 28 school districts and six county offices of education and area colleges to the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort.

Keynote speakers included Tavis Smiley, author and host of PBS’s “The Tavis Smiley Show”; Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch, founder and president of Educational Achievement Services Inc.; Ron Clark, founder of Ron Clark Academy; and Talithia Williams, an associate professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College.

This year’s conference focused on eliminating achievement and opportunity gaps facing students of all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

“We are excited to see that the nearly 40 percent increase in year-over-year attendance serves as evidence of a vigorous commitment to equity that is driving educators in Riverside County and throughout California,” said Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Judy D. White.

“Hundreds of thousands of students across the state stand to benefit as a result of this conference when educators return to their schools prepared to activate the lessons from this conference by enhancing curriculum, updating policies, evaluating data, and transforming their mindset to achieve excellence through equity,” she said.