The success of advanced math students is adding up to academic history at Oakbrook Elementary.
The ADV100 math class is once again setting new achievement levels in the NEWA results:
- Sixth grader Hung Tran -scored a 276 (NWEA 12th grade chart maxes out at 243), the highest score in Oakbrook’s 50-year history.
- Four Students at 99th Percentile Nationally - Hung Tran, Tien Tranhuynh, Robert Ghazarian, Jack Nguyen
- Three Students at 98th Percentile: Jayden Lin, Anthony Wadie and Rodolfo Hernandez
- A Class Average is 90th percentile nationally
- Class Growth was over 200% projection (double the expected growth).
Teacher William Mader attributed the continued success to an environment that takes problem solving and critical thinking skills to a higher level.
“I sincerely enjoy my time teaching these young Americans. They are all perseverant even with significantly challenging work,” he said. “They are a true community of good-hearted individuals who watch out for and support each other - they give me great hope for the future.”
Students said they enjoy the challenging pace of the class.
“It goes really fast,” Tran said. “Where you might have had a week before, you generally get new assignments that are due the next day.”
Still, he said the key to math is taking your time one problem.
“It helps because you can double and triple check your work,” he said.
Tran said while the value of math is that it is used in everyday life, an extra incentive is that success can open doors for future careers.
“If you want to become like engineer, you need to be really good at math.”
