RALEIGH, N.C. — Wake County parents, business leaders, government officials and educators participated in the seventh annual Wake Education Summit Thursday morning.

The education summit was organized by the the nonprofit

Wake Education Partnership

and held at the McKimmon Center on the campus of North Carolina State University.

Participants talked about ways to overcome obstacles preventing students from achieving at a higher level.

One group believes teacher burnout is at the top of the list. For some of the Hispanic participants, language is the obstacle.

"With our kids being limited English proficiency students, or English-language learners, there is going to be some barriers. So they want to make sure their concerns are heard," said MariaRosa Rangel, of Hispanic-Latino Outreach.

The Wake Education Partnership has set a goal of 95 percent of students in grades three through 12 at or above grade level by 2008.

Wake County school Superintendent Bill McNeil says recommendations laid out at the summit will help the district achieve that goal.

"We'll take the recommendations, the feedback we get and we'll go back to our initiatives and figure out what they are saying to us -- what are the tops items -- and we'll incorporate those," he said.

McNeil says some of the recommendations could be in place by fall.

Recommendations from past years, including a goal having 91 percent of students at or above grade level, have proved successful.

The initiatives take money. The partnership will help with funding, but Wake County commissioners will ultimately decide how much money the school system gets.