The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 school board will discuss the efficiency of an integration guideline and the results of a reading evaluation report at tonight’s meeting.

The integration measure, known as the 60 percent guideline, originated in the 1960s in an effort to integrate Evanston’s schools. The guideline states that no District 65 school can have more than 60 percent of any one ethnic group.

“It’s going to be an examination of the efficiency of the guideline,” board member Mary Erickson said.

In past decades, students have been bused to other schools within the district to meet the guideline. The school district has grappled with the issue in recent years, including it’s consideration last year of the creation of a new school in the Fifth Ward, where many of the city’s black students live.

By creating a Fifth Ward school, which board members originally endorsed, it likely would hurt the 60 percent guideline because the school would probably be more than 60 percent black and also prevent black students from maintaining the ration at other schools.

Erickson said the current discussion is an attempt to figure out if the busing really is a worthwhile “burden” on minority children, primarily black students.

In May the school district decided to wait to make a formal decision on whether to end, change or continue the guideline.

Erickson said board members will have to examine how much they are committed to keeping the integration guideline in its current form.

“Who knows? The more we talk about it, maybe we’ll get ideas to change it,” Erickson said.

School board Vice President Hecky Powell said he doesn’t think the guideline would change in the district.

“It’s not a policy, it’s a goal,” Powell said. “And I think we will keep it as a goal.”

At Tuesday’s meeting the board will also receive and discuss the Reading Evaluation Report, which researches the reasons certain teachers produce better reading scores with black students than other teacher. The report was conducted in part by Northwestern Education Prof. Fred Hess.

“The report identifies traits that really worked and what the teachers did in their classrooms to encourage minority students,” Erickson said.

Powell said he is eager to see how the district will use the report.

“If we follow some of its recommendations, it will help the district,” he said.

Powell also said the evaluation “makes interesting reading.”

“We need to take a look at what those teachers are doing,” Powell said. “Evidently they’re doing something right.”

One of the district’s annual goals states that all third-graders who have been in District 65 for three or more years should be reading at grade level.

The school board will meet at 8 p.m. at the Joseph E. Hill Education Center, 1500 McDaniel Ave. The meeting is open to the public.