SAVANNAH, Ga. --- Almost 1,400 educators from across the world are gathering at the Hyatt Regency to learn how to be better teachers.

Attendees of the 19th Annual National Youth-At-Risk Conference will learn from more than 125 speakers how to empower and better educate young people.

"We need to first recognize that there is a problem," said Robert Barr, author and senior analyst at Boise State University Center for School Improvement.

The problem Mr. Barr refers to is one common in many communities across the nation -- high poverty/underperforming schools.

Mr. Barr said he thinks the single most important fix to helping educate students is reading.

"Reading is the foundation for everything else they will ever learn," he said.

Another problem facing students is the lower expectations teachers and parents sometimes have for poor students and minorities versus more affluent students.

Teachers need to remember that they learn from their students just as much as their students learn from them, said Lynette M. Elizalde-Robinson, project development coordinator for the 15th Judicial Court of Louisiana.

Ms. Robinson was the Sunday keynote speaker at the first day of the four-day conference.

"We need to think outside the box, students live and function outside the box, that's where we need to be," she said.

Another problem Mr. Barr and other conference speakers and attendees noted is a "digital divide" between lower-income and affluent students.

The Internet can be a great channel for teachers to reach students, Mr. Barr said.

The problem comes from many families not being able to afford computers, much less Internet access. Local public schools are also looking to outside sources, such as libraries, for help.

"A big push I have made this year is getting library cards into the hands of every first-grader," said School Board President Joe Buck, who did not attend Sunday's meeting.

The conference is an opportunity to share what works and what schools can do to help students.

"Schools can't do it by themselves," said Dan Rea, a professor of educational psychology at Georgia Southern University and one of the conference organizers.