A large achievement gap persists between many of Evanston/Skokie School District 65’s white and minority students despite years of specialized reading programs, according to a report by a Northwestern professor.

Education Prof. Fred Hess completed an evaluation of the district’s normal and alternative reading programs, which the District 65 board reviewed at a late October meeting.

“The basic finding is that there is a significant difference in achievement depending on what student you’re looking at,” Hess said.

Hess is the coordinator of the Lighthouse Partnership, a three-year joint venture between District 65 and the School of Education and Social Policy. He also helped develop the district’s strategic plan, which has resulted in evaluations of other programs, including bilingual education and special education.

There are two equal-sized groups of students in District 65’s reading programs, Hess said. The first consists of advantaged students with affluent parents. Most of these students are white — but not all.

Predominately low-income students whose families tend to have less education constitute the second group, he said. Most of these students are black or Hispanic.

Students in the affluent group had a median reading level at or above the 80th percentile, which means they scored higher than 80 percent of all students in the same grade nationwide.

But disadvantaged students’ scores in several grades ranged from the 32nd to the 40th percentiles, Hess said. Those scores were well below the national median, the 50th percentile.

Another finding was the district’s specialized reading programs — mostly used as alternatives to the regular program to help students who have trouble reading — lost effectiveness with time, Hess said.

“Our evidence was that after the first grade, these programs seemed to have less impact on improving reading,” he said. “But what that impact was, was hard to determine.”

The report also found that achievement varied by school level and favored certain teachers.

“There are a number of individual teachers who are consistently successful with average, low-income students,” Hess said. “(They) help them achieve at consistently higher levels than other kids in the district.”

In his recommendation Hess suggested the district study the successful teachers and see which methods they use.

Hess also urged District 65 to improve how it assesses students. It currently uses three different tests.

“The district ought to test every child in every grade at the end of every year, with a common set of assessments,” Hess said.

Finally, Hess said, the district should continue changing specialized reading programs into regular program supplements instead of alternatives.

School board member Hecky Powell said he was not surprised by the results.

“Take the reading score, the math score, any score,” Powell said. “Minority children are not achieving in the district, especially in certain schools.”

He said many of the failing students come from the predominantly black Fifth Ward. He blames the environment that students are raised in for their poor achievement — but maintained it is not a race issue.

“It’s not the teachers, it’s the culture of the kids,” he said. “It’s the environment they’re in.”

The school board likely will use some of Hess’ recommendations, as well as another submitted by a Michigan State professor, Powell said. So far, members have not yet discussed how to proceed.