Press

“As the founding upper school director Martin Moran explained, ‘Everything has to start with trust: Teachers need to trust kids. Administrators need to trust teachers. Parents need to trust administrators.’ As a teacher, Moran observed how many systems and structures in school actively and unnecessarily undermined trust while harming high school students’ mental health and causing unnecessary conflict with parents.”

“To address friction among schools, families, students and teachers regarding student grades, Bennett Day School, a private K-12 school in Chicago, adopted a competency-based assessment system that measures achievement around personal growth and skill development. The school also minimized high stakes tests and implemented ‘demonstrations of learning‘ at the end of each trimester, according to the report.”

“Bennett Day School (PK-12) in Chicago has a daily advisory program for middle and high school students. More than a homeroom, the advisory provides a structured curriculum on social-emotional learning. Students also meet one-on-one with their advisor once a week. ‘The advisory program builds a 360-degree support system around the student,’ says Martin Moran, who leads program design at Bennett. Younger students participate in a morning meeting designed specifically for their age group.”

Abigail Rosas, a student at Bennett Day School, has been named a 2024 Coca-Cola Scholar and will receive a $20,000 college scholarship. Less than 1/6^th of 1% of applicants were chosen to receive this extremely competitive award.

“In the role of director of facilities, Cally Vevers has not only enhanced the school’s campus but also forged impactful cost-saving measures with the business office… A friend to many, Cally is known for delivering notes of gratitude to colleagues throughout the building, taking a moment to acknowledge their unique efforts.”

Construction on the exterior walls of Bennett Day School, located at 955 W Grand Avenue in West Town, is progressing as the school undergoes its second campus expansion. The expansion, known as ‘Phase 3’, will nearly double the size of the independent PreK-12 school from 50,000 to approximately 100,000 square feet.

Bennett Day Upper Schoolers were featured on CBS Chicago’s “What Caught My Eye” segment on Nov. 26, 2023. Watch to learn more about the multifaceted weather station our students assembled and collected data from as part of their Trimester 1 project-based learning (PBL) on weather.

Bennett Day School was named one of the best private high schools in Illinois, according to the Niche’s 2024 Best Schools and Districts rankings.

Bennett Day School is thrilled to announce that Jackie Miller, Principal, has been selected as the opening keynote speaker at the 22nd annual ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference. She will be joined by five panelists, and fellow Bennett faculty members, Andy Rodgers, Emily Fields, Lisa Kennedy, Molly Simmons, and Zak Thompson. 

The team of students, Chicago Team 11, came together through ACE Mentor Chicago – a program that supports and inspires students interested in architecture, construction, and engineering. Chicago Team 11 earned a $5,000 prize for their design for a “school of the future.”