When it comes to math, Hillcrest School fourth-graders are up to the challenge.

A whopping 98 percent of them tested proficient, advanced or exemplary on a state math test this spring, garnering a state award for the school.

“That’s almost amazing, isn’t it?” Tom Christie, executive director of educational programming for the district, said of the scores.

The nonprofit Confidence in Kansas Public Education Task Force named Hillcrest one of 64 Kansas schools to win a Challenge Award.

The award goes to schools with high percentages of minority students and students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches — and with exceptional scores on state assessment tests.

More than half of Hillcrest students during the 2003-2004 school year were Hispanic, black or another minority. The school is near Kansas University and is the Lawrence district’s only elementary site for children learning English as a second language.

More than 45 percent of Hillcrest students during the 2003-2004 school year were economically disadvantaged.

Hillcrest Principal Tammy Becker said the school had strong students, supportive parents and hard-working staff.

“It’s a nice honor,” she said of the Challenge Award.

Hillcrest School fifth-graders Max Levine,10, left, and Lucas Mehl,11, glue together pieces of a kite during a class project devoted to the dynamics of flight. The school received a 2004 Challenge Award in recognition of its math achievement in the 2003-2004 school year.

Compared to 98 percent of Hillcrest fourth-graders, about 80 percent of fourth-graders statewide tested proficient, advanced or exemplary on the math test.

In Lawrence public schools, about 81 percent of fourth-graders scored in these categories.

Hillcrest has a long tradition of scoring well on state tests.

“They were pretty psyched up,” Hillcrest teacher Betty Sisson of the 50 fourth-graders this spring. “They were pretty confident going into the test.”

Flowers and snacks donated by businesses for the days of testing also encouraged the children, Sisson said.

“It made them feel special when they were taking the test, that people cared about them,” she said.

6News video: State award sums up Hillcrest math success

Flowers decorated the rooms where the children took the test, and the children could snack on dried fruit, lemon drops and peppermints.

“The scent of peppermints is supposed to help you think clearly,” said another Hillcrest fourth-grade teacher, Kristi Carlsen Jewell. “Maybe they did work.”

Hillcrest was one of nine Lawrence public elementaries to earn the state’s “standard of excellence” for math test scores from this spring.

In 2001 exams in math, reading, science and social studies, Hillcrest was one of three Lawrence elementary schools to achieve the state’s “standard of excellence” on two tests.

Fourth-graders at Hillcrest in 2000 outperformed students at the 17 other Lawrence elementary schools that took the state’s math test. Hillcrest fifth-graders that year outshone all other elementary schools in the district on the state reading test.