LAS VEGAS -- As thousands of Nevada students are headed to summer school classes today, educators across the state are calling for a more concerted effort to make sure the children are proficient in English. The problem was discussed at the University of Nevada Las Vegas last week during the "English Mastery for Nevada's Prosperity" conference attended by educators, lawmakers and community leaders.

Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, says Nevada has one of the highest percentages of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the nation - about 76,000 in all. He says nearly one in 10 is not making the grade.

"The numbers are very big; the challenge is very daunting; the extent to which we are failing to step up to the plate as a state to meet that challenge is very striking."

Peck says Nevada currently allocates only $120 in federal funding per ELL student, and the state does not add a nickel to that. The Sandoval administration maintains it is working hard to increase accountability in the classroom. Peck says Nevada is one of only a handful of states that don't supplement federal ELL funds.

Peck says while one-fifth of all Nevada students are English Language Learners, the problem is not limited to Latinos.

"We have low-income kids of color whose vocabularies are even more limited than Latino kids' vocabularies are when they begin their K-12 education."

Once a student gets behind in English, Peck says, more problems pile up. Numbers in Clark County show that by the fourth grade, about one-third of the students who fall behind in English are also behind in math, he adds.

Information about the Hispanic student graduation rate is in the 2012 Education Week report, available at www.edweek.org.