RENO — Despite a letdown last week with news that Nevada was not a finalist for the competitive federal Race to the Top education funding, the Washoe County School District is looking to other revenue streams to improve graduation rates.

A representative from U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s office confirmed Monday that a funding request from the school district has been received under the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. The bill has yet to pass through committee to the Senate.

Reid’s office announced last week that the senator secured $13.7 million for the bill. Of that total, $5 million will be earmarked for projects related to education, including school construction and modernization, among other things.

The school district is in pursuit of $500,000, a portion of which would be dedicated to opening a graduation office in the 2011-12 school year, Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez said. The office would provide services to the district’s 15 high schools and at-risk students who may not be on track for graduation in a normal four-year schedule.

Martinez said the district has been analyzing data collected on eighth graders transitioning into high school. According to results, Martinez said, the percentages of students who perform poorly on their state proficiency exams is troubling.

“We have found if our eighth graders, when they graduate from middle school, if they are proficient on all four state exams — reading, math, science and writing — they have an 82 percent probability of graduating,” Martinez said.

But that percentage decreases if an eighth grader passes fewer than four exams. Students who pass only three are only 62 percent likely to graduate; passing two, the number drops to 49 percent; and with only one or if the student fails on all four, there is only a 15 percent chance they will finish high school.

Having a graduation office in place would help monitor at-risk students more closely with extra support systems, including after-school tutoring.

“The new money would be for preventative measures,” Martinez said.

One tactic would be to create a summer program that would serve as an orientation for incoming freshmen. Martinez said the district would take some of its best high school teachers and target those children who have been identified as struggling and begin helping them right away with the subjects giving them difficulty so they’re on par with their grade level at the start of the school year.

The funding for a graduation office would also provide consultants and specialists from community agencies to bring in certain expertise to help at-risk youth.

The district also is applying for a grant for $15 million — $3 million over five years — for Washoe High School to provide social supports for middle school students who might be involved with gangs or other risk behaviors and have dropped out.

“We’re partnering with different agencies: the Children’s Cabinet, Juvenile Services, Child Protective Services,” Martinez said. “We contract with those agencies and they provide the staffing.”

He said with a school system as big as Washoe County it is easier for students who start falling behind at the beginning of high school to “fall through the cracks.”

“Our district does a better job than most trying to prevent that,” he said, “but these supports create a safety path for getting these children so they don’t get lost.”

Administrators and educators also are becoming smarter about understanding the data being collected on student test scores, he added.

“We now see the relationship between proficiency and assessments and graduation,” he said. “… We’re very excited about (this funding). Everything we’re doing in our strategic plan aligns very nicely (with these efforts). The bottom line is we’re trying to provide support to all our high schools.”