At-risk students in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 may soon have an alternative to summer school if its board follows a report’s recommendation.

School board members discussed a district report at Monday night’s meeting that recommends more after-school instruction to supplement the summer school program. The extended-day program would target students in the third, fifth and eighth grades who otherwise would be required to take summer-school classes.

Currently, the district’s six-week summer-school program serves two different categories of students: required and recommended. Required students must attend summer school in order to move on to the next grade level. Recommended students are those who need supplemental instruction and may go to summer school if their parents choose to send them.

“Students were finding it difficult to keep up during the year,” said Lynn McCarthy, assistant superintendent for school operations. “We’re having a new idea of support all the way through the year.”

Extended day instruction would last for one hour four days a week, following the end of the school day. The program would begin in February, and district teachers would run the sessions in small classroom settings.

“We need an extended day so we can accelerate the process,” Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy told board members. “If we engage in acceleration throughout the year, they wouldn’t need summer school.”

According to McCarthy, 95 students have already been targeted for the program, which would cost an estimated $89,360 to implement across the district.

McCarthy added that summer school does not always prevent students from being held back a year. After-school programs would do more to ensure that students meet end-of-grade requirements earlier — and would jump-start the summer-school program.

The board reviewed the results of the 2002 summer program, which served 1,295 students — considerably more than the forecasted enrollment of 900 students set in late 2001.

The report recommended that the enrollment be reduced next summer because smaller class sizes would be more effective for students.

Overall, the results indicated that the students in last summer’s program improved in reading comprehension and math. However, some board members questioned whether standards should be raised so that graduates of the summer program are on par with their classmates when they advance to the next grade.

McCarthy said the proposed extended school day could help those students get through the year.

“In the eighth grade we really have felt we’d like to help students to graduate with their class,” she said. “They can come after school and get support.”