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{{Infobox school
<!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the issue is settled -->{{#ifeq:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Special:Undelete| |{{#if:{{{nosubst|}}}|<div style="display:none;">}} {{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}||{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}|= |#default={{error:wrong namespace}}<div style="display:none;">}}|{{error:not substituted|AFD}}<div style="display:none;">}}}} {{#if:{{{nosubst|}}}|</div></div>}}
| name = The Avery Coonley School
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| image = ACS Building.jpg
'''This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Misplaced Pages's ]]'''<br />
| alt = A red brick building and three sides of a white columned cloister behind a large reflecting pool
Please share your thoughts on the matter at ''']''' on the Articles for deletion page.<br />
| streetaddress = 1400 Maple Avenue
Feel free to edit the article, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the ].<br/>
| city = ]
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| country = United States
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| us_nces_school_id = {{NCES Private School ID|02024267|school_name=Avery Coonley School|access_date=July 24, 2014|do_not_show_link=true}}
</small></div>
| coordinates = {{coord|41.788|-88.020|region:US-IL_type:edu|display=inline,title}}
{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}||{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}|= |#default=</div>}}|</div>}}
| affiliation = ]<ref>{{cite web|title=School Information |publisher=National Association of Independent Schools |work=Membership Directory |url=http://transact.nais.org/Custom/CompanyInformation.aspx?id=0037&addressnum= |access-date=February 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720235902/http://transact.nais.org/Custom/CompanyInformation.aspx?id=0037&addressnum= |archive-date=July 20, 2011 }}</ref>
{{{category|]}}}
| head of school = Kirsty Montgomery
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| gender = ]
{{sources}}
| schooltype = {{hlist|]|]|]}}
| enrollment = 338
| enrollment_as_of = 2023
| grades = Preschool–8
| age range = 3–14
| campus size = {{convert|11|acre|ha}}
| campus type = Suburban
| motto = "Onward and Upward"
| accreditation = ]<ref>{{cite web | title = Institution Summary | work = International Registry for Accreditation | publisher = AdvancED | url = http://www.advanc-ed.org/oasis2/u/par/accreditation/summary?institutionId=10388 | access-date = February 24, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110718081052/http://www.advanc-ed.org/oasis2/u/par/accreditation/summary?institutionId=10388 | archive-date = July 18, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
| mascot = Fightin' Seahorse
| mascot image =
| colors = {{Color box|orange|border=darkgray}}{{Color box|blue|border=darkgray}} Orange and blue
| established = 1906
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.averycoonley.org/}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Coonley, Avery, School
| embed = yes
| nrhp_type =
| image =
| caption =
| location = 1400 Maple Ave., ]
| locmapin = Illinois#USA
| built = 1929
| architect = ]; Hamilton, Fellows & Nedved, et al.
| architecture = Prairie School
| added = August 8, 2007
| area = {{convert|10.5|acre}}
| refnum = 07000477<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}
}}
'''The Avery Coonley School (ACS)''', commonly called '''Avery Coonley''', is an ], ] ] serving academically ] students in ] through ] (approximately ages 3 to 14), and is located in ], ], ]. The school was founded in 1906 to promote the ]al theories developed by ] and other turn-of-the-20th-century philosophers, and was a nationally recognized model for progressive education well into the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news | title = Downers Grove School Recalls 30 Year Growth | newspaper = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = October 18, 1942 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/473370012.html?FMT=AI&dids=473370012:473370012&FMTS=AI:CITE&type=historic&date=Oct+18%2C+1942&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+%281872-1963%29&desc=DOWNERS+GROVE+SCHOOL+RECALLS+30+YEAR+GROWTH | format = fee required | access-date = January 15, 2010 | archive-date = January 25, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180125074505/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/offers.html?url=%2Fchicagotribune%2Fdoc%2F176699899.html%3FFMT%3DAI%26FMTS%3DAI%3ACITE%26type%3Dhistoric%26date%3DOct%252018%2C%25201942%26author%3D%26pub%3DChicago%2520Daily%2520Tribune%2520%281872-1963%29%26edition%3D%26startpage%3D%26desc%3DDOWNERS%2520GROVE%2520SCHOOL%2520RECALLS%252030%2520YEAR%2520GROWTH | url-status = dead }}</ref> From 1943 to 1965, Avery Coonley was part of the National College of Education (now ]), serving as a living laboratory for teacher training.


The school moved to Downers Grove in 1916 and became the Avery Coonley School in 1929, with a new {{convert|10.45|acre|ha|adj=on}} campus designed in the ] and ] styles, landscaped by ]. Avery Coonley was added to the ] in 2007.
The Avery Coonley School is a highly selective, non-denominational private day/elementary school in ]. The school was founded in 1906 by Queene Ferry Coonley, a wealthy education patron. The school's current mission is to serve "bright and gifted students" from preschool to 8th grade. Students are admitted into preschool, and have to pass a test to enter kindergarten. Entry is competitive with a waiting list.


== History ==
The curriculum includes accelerated English, math, science, and social studies curriculum. Students also take French, theater, computer science, music, and visual arts. The school has a student orchestra. The physical education curriculum has now introduced a fitness curriculum including body fat testings and cardiac monitoring. The student body is highly diverse.


=== Founding and Cottage School (1906–1916) ===
The school has won many awards in math, science, social studies, French, and problem solving competitions. The soccer and volleyball teams have also placed high in their leagues.
] in 1894, it later became a private residence.<ref>{{cite web | title =Whittlesey, Charles | publisher = Pacific Coast Architecture Database | url = https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/102/ | access-date = January 17, 2010}}</ref>]]


In 1906, Queene Ferry Coonley, wife of wealthy ] industrialist and publisher Avery Coonley, decided to start a ] program to allow children younger than five years old to attend.<ref name="collection">{{cite book | title =Queene Ferry Coonley Collection | publisher = Texas Archival Resource Online | url = http://lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00102/aaa-00102.html | access-date = January 11, 2010 | oclc = 214327323}}</ref> Queene Coonley was trained as a social worker and kindergarten teacher at the Detroit Normal School (now ]) and was impressed by the theories of ], who believed children's early education should be an extension of their lives at home.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Baader | first = Sophia Meike | title = Froebel and the Rise of Educational Theory in the United States | journal = Studies in Philosophy and Education | volume = 23 | issue = 5–6 | year = 2004 | pages = 427–444| oclc = 186848000 | doi=10.1007/s11217-004-4453-0| s2cid = 189771817 }}</ref>
The school has undergone recent additions, including state-of-the-art math and science labs and a professional-quality theater. Many of the school's graduates advance to prestigious East coast boarding schools and Ivy League universities.


Coonley persuaded the director of the Riverside program, Lucia Burton Morse, and her assistant, Charlotte Krum, to help launch a new school. Their progressive views on education emphasized an individualized approach to education and children learning from experience and social interaction. Coonley described the new school as "a Children's Community. Its purpose was not so much to teach what others had thought or grown-ups had done, but for the children themselves to do something."<ref name="responsibility">{{cite journal | title = The Educational Responsibility of the Mother | last = Coonley | first = Queene Ferry | journal = Vassar Quarterly | date = August 1921 | pages = 239–245 | oclc = 2441148}}</ref>
Parent and alumni involvement in the school is high. There is an annual fundraising dinner in May which contributes over $130,000 to the endowment yearly.


]
The school building was designed by a student of ], and was designated as a historical site in 2006.


A small cottage on the Coonley estate served as the first school building, and the first name was The Cottage School. The designer was ]. The estate's main building, the Avery ], designed by ], is now a ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Coonley, Avery, House |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=921&ResourceType=Building |date=December 30, 1970 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |access-date=January 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103060607/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=921&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=January 3, 2008 }}</ref> A new building was completed in 1912 and became known as the Coonley Playhouse.<ref>{{cite book | title =Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867–1959: Building for Democracy | url =https://archive.org/details/franklloydwright00pfei | url-access =limited | last = Pfeiffer | first = Bruce Books | location = Los Angeles| publisher = Taschen | year = 2004 | page = | isbn = 978-3-8228-2757-4}}</ref> It featured colored art glass windows, flags, balloons, and confetti in what Wright referred to as a "kinder-symphony". Some have claimed that they belong to Wright's most famous windows.<ref>{{cite book | title = Wright Style: Re-Creating the Spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright | last = Lind | first = Carla | publisher = Simon & Schuster | edition = 1st | location = New York | year = 1992 | page = | isbn = 978-0-671-74959-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/wrightstyle00lind/page/128 }}</ref>{{cref|b}}
The school was recognized as a ] in 1987&ndash;88.<ref>, www.ed.gov (.pdf)</ref>


The Cottage School was free to all students, and was supported both by Coonley's own resources and funds raised by the Kindergarten Education Association. In 1915, John Dewey and his daughter Evelyn featured the Cottage School in their book, ''The Schools of To-Morrow'', which examined how progressive schools around the country put new educational ideas into action.<ref>Dewey and Dewey 1915, pp. 85–86, 90–91, 227.</ref> The Deweys considered the Cottage School to be an example of training in good citizenship and approved of its mock elections, self-government, and public service.<ref>Dewey and Dewey 1915, p. 227.</ref>
==References==
=== Junior Elementary School (1916–1929) ===
<references/>


]
{{Illinois-school-stub}}

At the same time the Playhouse was built, Coonley agreed to build a kindergarten in the nearby town of ], which did not have a public school.{{cref|c}} Coonley purchased land on Grove Street and commissioned the architectural firm of Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton to design the building. The school, led by Lucia Morse, was launched as the Kindergarten Extension Association School in 1912.<ref name="collection" /> In 1916, the Cottage School was closed and a first grade program was launched at the Downers Grove kindergarten, which was renamed the Junior Elementary School. To accommodate older students, a ] class was added in 1920 for students around seven years old, a ] in 1926 for eight-year-olds, and a ] for nine-year-old students shortly thereafter.<ref>Portman 2008, pp. 11, 17.</ref>

The Coonleys moved to Washington, D.C., in 1916.<ref name="collection" /> Morse looked after the day-to-day direction of the school. Teachers at the Junior Elementary School were encouraged to find a new way of relating to students, allowing them more freedom. Coonley recalled that "boys and girls cooked, boys and girls did carpenter work, boys and girls took an equal part in all matters of government."<ref name="responsibility" /> Students re-enacted history and literature, composed music, and spent time outdoors.<ref>{{cite journal |title = Living as Education | last = Morse| first = Lucia Burton | journal = Progressive Education | issue = I, no. 2 | year = 1924 | pages = 68–71 | oclc = 1762988}}</ref> In 1924, Coonley and Morse helped found a journal entitled ''Progressive Education'', in which they published their own practical experiences at the school and articles by educational theorists including John Dewey.<ref>{{cite journal |title = Progressive Education and the Science of Education | last = Dewey | first = John | journal = Progressive Education | issue = V, no. 3 | year = 1928 | pages = 197–204 | oclc = 1762988}}</ref><ref>Brown, Finn and Brown 1988, pp. iii–viii.</ref> It became the leading professional journal of the progressive education movement and was published until 1957.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book | title = The Fifties: The Way We Really Were | page = | first1 = Douglas | first2 = Marion | last1 = Miller | last2 = Nowak | publisher = Doubleday | year = 1977 | place = Garden City, NY | edition = 1st | isbn = 978-0-385-11248-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/fifties00doug/page/251 }}</ref>

=== Avery Coonley School (1929–1960s) ===

] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="faulkner">{{cite web |date=December 21, 2006 |title=Waldron Faulkner and His Influence at GW |url=http://encyclopedia.gwu.edu/gwencyclopedia/index.php?title=Waldron_Faulkner_and_His_Influence_at_GW? |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719204724/http://encyclopedia.gwu.edu/gwencyclopedia/index.php?title=Waldron_Faulkner_and_His_Influence_at_GW%3F |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |access-date=January 4, 2010 |publisher=The George Washington University}}</ref>]]

Coonley chose a wooded tract in Downers Grove, adjacent to the Maple Grove Forest Preserve, as the site for the new building,<ref name="revisited" /> and her son-in-law, ], was the architect of the new building project.<ref name="modern">{{cite book | title = Modern Architecture in America: Visions and Revisions | last1 = Wilson | last2 = Robinson | first1 = Richard Guy | first2 = Sidney K | publisher = University of Iowa Press | location = Ames | year = 1991 | edition = 1st | page = | isbn = 978-0-8138-0381-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/modernarchitectu0000unse/page/147 }}</ref>{{cref|d}} Over one hundred students attended school in the opened building on September 30, 1929, and it was renamed The Avery Coonley School, in honor of Coonley's late husband, who had died in 1920.<ref>{{cite news | title = How It All Began | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = September 12, 1976 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/616755632.html?FMT=AI&dids=616755632:616755632&FMTS=AI:CITE&type=historic&date=Sep+12%2C+1976&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%281963-Current+file%29&desc=How+it+all+began... | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120722070254/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/616755632.html?FMT=AI&dids=616755632:616755632&FMTS=AI:CITE&type=historic&date=Sep+12,+1976&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(1963-Current+file)&desc=How+it+all+began... | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 22, 2012 | format = fee required | access-date = January 15, 2010 }}</ref> Coonley chose as a mascot a ], a unique creature who was also a member of a larger community. The seahorse swims upright, from which derives the school motto: "Onward and Upward".<ref>Portman 2008, p. 55.</ref>

], a pedagogy promoting learning through real-life experiences, was at its zenith in the United States in the 1920s and 30s, and the Avery Coonley School was a widely known model of these theories in action.<ref name="illinois">{{cite book | title = Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide | page = 543 | last = Writers Program for the Work Projects Administration for the State of Illinois | publisher = McClurg | location = Chicago | year = 1947 | oclc = 1517733}}</ref> Avery Coonley was featured regularly in ''Progressive Education'' and other professional journals,<ref name="Brown Finn & Brown p22">Brown, Finn and Brown 1988, p. 22.</ref> and in 1938, the editor of ''Progressive Education,'' Gertrude Hartman,<ref name="Brown Finn & Brown p22" /> published a profile of the Avery Coonley School in her book ''Finding Wisdom: Chronicles of a School of Today''. She noted, "isitors from all parts of the United States and from foreign countries to see the school—sometimes as many as thirty in a day."<ref>Hartman 1938, p. 137.</ref>

The book described the progress of the students from their first year of kindergarten through their ten years of study, providing photos, stories, and examples of students' work. ''Finding Wisdom'' became a classic in the education field and solidified the Avery Coonley School's national reputation as a model of progressive education.<ref>{{cite news | title = Theory of Education Grows and Grows | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | last = Carroll | first = S.R. | date = October 25, 1998 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/35350177.html?FMT=FT&dids=35350177:35350177&FMTS=CITE:FT&type=current&date=Oct+25%2C+1998&author=S.R.+Carroll.+Special+to+the+Tribune.&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=THEORY+OF+EDUCATION+GROWS+AND+GROWS | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120715151742/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/35350177.html?FMT=FT&dids=35350177:35350177&FMTS=CITE:FT&type=current&date=Oct+25,+1998&author=S.R.+Carroll.+Special+to+the+Tribune.&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=THEORY+OF+EDUCATION+GROWS+AND+GROWS | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 15, 2012 | format = fee required | access-date = January 16, 2010 }}</ref>

Morse died in 1940, after 34 years as director, and several years went by without a strong local leadership. To ensure a sounder footing for the future, Coonley merged Avery Coonley with the National College of Education (NCE, formerly the Chicago Kindergarten College and now ]) in ], in 1943.<ref name="movingforward">{{cite journal | title = A History of Moving Forward: Celebrating National-Louis University's 120th Anniversary | journal = National College of Education Quarterly | issue = 27 | year = 2006| page = 1| oclc = 53188324}}</ref> The two institutions had close ties dating back to Morse's Kindergarten College days, and the arrangement took advantage of the NCE's financial and teaching resources while Avery Coonley provided a living laboratory for teacher training and educational research. The school continued offering the curriculum for which it had become known.<ref>{{cite news | title = Eggs, Sheep Part of ACS Early Years | last = Vladova | first = Bob | newspaper = Suburban Life Graphic | date = September 7, 1979}}</ref>

] and progressive education.<ref name="obit" />]]

Coonley died in 1958.<ref name="obit">{{cite news | title = Mrs. Coonley, Suffragist, Was 84 | newspaper = The New York Times | date = July 11, 1958| url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A11F838591A7493C3A8178CD85F4C8585F9 | format = fee required | access-date = January 16, 2010}}</ref> With her donations now missing, ACS began charging tuition in 1929. By 1964, enrollment had (again) reached 200 students.<ref>Portman 2008, p. 38.</ref>

In 1965, the Administrative Board purchased Avery Coonley from the NCE.<ref name="movingforward" /> ACS joined the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) in 1961. ISACS was founded in 1908 to promote ] in independent schools, and instituted a mandatory accreditation program for member schools in 1961. Avery Coonley served as ISACS headquarters from 1970 until the central office was dissolved in 2000.<ref>{{cite web | title = About ISACS | publisher = Independent School Association of the Central States | url = http://www.isacs.org/about/mission/history.asp | access-date = February 17, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101004155331/http://www.isacs.org/about/mission/history.asp | archive-date = October 4, 2010 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Malach also established the Institute for Educational Research (IER) in 1964 as a center for educational experimentation. The Institute, headquartered at ACS,<ref>{{cite news | title = Planned Education Research Center Gets Design Award | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = April 30, 1970 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/630232242.html?FMT=AI&dids=630232242:630232242&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+30%2C+1970&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Planned+Education+Research+Center+Gets+Design+Award | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120715132347/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/630232242.html?FMT=AI&dids=630232242:630232242&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+30,+1970&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Planned+Education+Research+Center+Gets+Design+Award | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 15, 2012 | format = fee required | access-date = January 16, 2010 }}</ref> was a joint venture with more than thirty public school districts, which collaborated on research projects and shared in the findings.<ref name="secondary">{{cite journal | title = Secondary School Research | journal = Independent School Bulletin | year = 1970 | issue = 30 | pages = 33–35 | oclc = 1752721}}</ref> Examples of other projects include kindergarten speech programs, elementary science programs, and ] in ].<ref name="secondary" />

=== Gifted education (1960s–present) ===

The kindergarten reading program was the first step in the Avery Coonley School's transition to a new focus on the education of the ]. An increasing focus on gifted education in North America was symbolized by the 1972 ] to the ], which was the first acknowledgment of the characteristics of gifted children and their specific educational needs.<ref>Marland 1972, p. xii.</ref> ACS headmaster Malach believed that the educational philosophy of his school was well aligned with the most important objectives of a gifted program.<ref>Marland 1972, p. III-15.</ref>

]

In 1960, ACS began screening applicants for high intellectual potential, requiring a tested ] above 120, achievement test results one and a half grade levels above national norms in reading and math, and intensive in-person evaluations.<ref name="family" /> Teachers began adapting the curriculum accordingly.<ref name="focus">{{cite news | title = The Coonley School Changes Focus | last = Vladova | first = Bob | newspaper = Suburban Life Graphic | date = September 12, 1979}}</ref> The core of the gifted curriculum remained the individualized approaches and learning by doing.<ref name="focus" />

== Campus ==

=== 1929 building ===

]

The campus occupies {{convert|10.45|acre|ha}} off of Maple Avenue in ].<ref name="revisited">{{cite book | title = Downer's Grove Revisited | last = Dunham | first = Montrose | publisher = Arcadia Publishing | location = Charleston, S.C. | pages = 82, 88 | year = 2003 }}</ref> It borders the Maple Grove Forest Preserve, created in 1919,<ref>{{cite book | title = Downer's Grove 1832–1982 | last = Dunham | first = Montrew | publisher = Downers Grove Historical Society | year = 1982 | page = 111}}</ref> one of the oldest forest preserves in the ] system.<ref name="maplegrove">{{cite web |title=Maple Grove |url=http://www.dupageforest.com/Conservation/ForestPreserves/Maple_Grove.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701062336/http://dupageforest.com/Conservation/ForestPreserves/Maple_Grove.html |archive-date=July 1, 2009 |access-date=January 9, 2010 |publisher=Forest Preserve of DuPage County}}</ref> The {{convert|82|acre|ha|adj=on}} preserve protects "the largest remaining remnant of the vast maple forest that became Downers Grove",<ref name="maplegrove" /> and has been categorized a globally endangered ].<ref name="maplegrove" /> The forest is a refuge for a wide range of birds and trees.<ref name="maplegrovemap">{{cite map|publisher=Forest Preserve District of DuPage County|title=Maple Grove Forest Preserve|url=http://www.dupageforest.com/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=4936|access-date=February 24, 2010}}{{dead link|date=July 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The preserve is used by students in their science and nature activities.<ref name="family" />

The designer of the grounds, ],<ref name="Grese 1992, p. 47">Grese 1992, p. 47.</ref> was known as "the father of the Chicago park system."<ref name="jensenchicago">{{cite news | title = Jens Jensen: Gave Chicago Parks Crown | newspaper = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = July 4, 1960 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/576206182.html?dids=576206182:576206182&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+04%2C+1960&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Jens+Jensen%3A+Gave+Chicago+Parks+Crown&pqatl=google | format = subscription required | access-date = February 17, 2010 | archive-date = October 26, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026095229/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/576206182.html?dids=576206182:576206182&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+04,+1960&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Jens+Jensen:+Gave+Chicago+Parks+Crown&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> His work became famous for his exclusive use of plants and materials native to the local region,<ref name="jensenchicago" /> and was characterized by his use of open spaces, flowing water, gently curving lines, and low circular benches, where people can gather.<ref name="Grese 1992, p. 47" /> A restoration of Jensen's landscape design was completed in 2006 as part of the ACS centennial celebration.<ref name="Follett 2006, p. 11" />

The building was designed by Coonley's son-in-law Waldron Faulkner<ref name="modern" /> with his son Avery Coonley Faulkner.<ref>{{cite news | title =Avery C. Faulkner, 78; Modernist Washington Architect | newspaper = The Washington Post | last = Holley | first = Joe |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022301862.html | date = February 24, 2007 | access-date = January 9, 2010}}</ref> The design in the style of the Prairie School was typical of the American ] style.<ref name="Follett 2006, p18">Follett 2006, p. 18.</ref> The easy access to the outdoors, ground floor classrooms, separate science laboratories, and planned outdoor play area are among the features of the design that would later be adopted by schools throughout the US after World War II.<ref name="Follett 2006, p18" />

]

The Avery Coonley School was designated a historical site by the Downers Grove Historical Society in 2006,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.downers.us/minutes/2006/2006/09/19/september-19-2006 | title = September 19, 2006 | publisher = Village of Downers Grove | date = September 19, 2006 | access-date = January 9, 2010}}</ref> and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.<ref>{{cite news | title = Avery Coonley School Joins Register of Historic Places | last = Findlay | first = Melinda | newspaper = Chicago Daily Herald | date = September 18, 2007 | url = http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=39542&src=2 | access-date = January 9, 2010}}</ref>

=== Recent additions ===

] (PAC), part of the 1993 addition. Drama, music, and other performances are an integral part of the curriculum.]]

A new wing was added in early 1980 to provide additional space for the arts, with a large room for orchestra and music and another for studio art.<ref>Follett 2006, p. 34.</ref> The Gatehouse, which was built in 1929 and had served as the headmaster's residence, was remodeled to house the early childhood program in 1988.<ref>Follett 2006, p. 15.</ref>

A 1992 addition included a new 17,500-volume library, a 16-station computer lab, and a 236-seat Performing Arts Center (PAC).<ref name="campus" /> Moravian tiles around the new foyer fireplace and library doors pay homage to the original building.<ref name="Follett 2006, p. 35">Follett 2006, p. 35.</ref> The PAC "is known for its excellent acoustics",<ref name="pac">{{cite news | title =Performing Arts Center at Avery Coonley School | url = http://chicago.metromix.com/venues/mmxchi-performing-arts-center-at-avery-c-venue | newspaper = Chicago Metromix | access-date = January 10, 2010}}</ref> and hosts student productions and outside artistic groups, including the Beck Institute for the Arts, which stages musical recitals there.<ref name="pac" />

Avery Coonley added a full-day kindergarten program in 2005, again requiring more space and a {{convert|15000|sqft|m2|adj=on}}<ref name="hightech">{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Flynn |date=January 26, 2006 |title=High-Tech Meets Middle School; Addition Includes Videoconferencing, Digital Chalkboard |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-10FBBE32D186A9F0.html |access-date=January 27, 2010 |newspaper=The Downers Grove Sun |format=subscription required}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> middle school wing.<ref name="Follett 2006, p. 35" />

== Curriculum ==

The founding educational philosophy is still evident in the modern day curriculum in the focus on learning by doing, teaching based on broad themes that cross subjects, an emphasis on collaborative projects, and a de-emphasis of textbooks. There remains a close integration of art and nature in daily activities and a focus on the development of social skills and education for social responsibility. These principles, adapted in the 1970s for gifted students, have been further extended to accommodate new developments in technology and educational research.<ref>Portman 2008, pp. 45, 52.</ref>

ACS refers to grade levels as groups, a practice rooted in progressive education that dates back at least to the Junior Elementary School.<ref>Portman 2008, p. 79.</ref> There are three divisions of students: the early school, which includes the early childhood Program (EC) for three-year-olds and junior kindergarten (JK) for four-year-olds; the lower school for kindergarten through group four, and middle school for groups five through eight. Each class in kindergarten through group eight has 32&nbsp;students. Each lower school class is team taught by two teachers.<ref name="zest" /> The student-to-teacher ratio in the lower and middle school is 16 to 1,<ref name="notallacademic" /> 11 to 1 in kindergarten, 8 to 1 in junior kindergarten, and 7 to 1 in the early childhood program.<ref name="ataglance" />

=== Academic program ===
] in the Forest Preserve, the culmination of her study of trees]]

As of 2009, the curriculum is ] for each group, which is separated by grade and age; students are instructed a minimum of one year above their current grade level. (For example, the first group is taught at a second grade level.)<ref name="giftedpupils" /> Students are grouped within their class to allow each of them work at the level of their ability, and they may work several years beyond their current level if they can do so.<ref name="challenge">{{cite news | title = The Challenge Superbright Kids Find It at Avery Coonley School | last = Banas | first = Casey | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = January 22, 1989 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24547328.html?dids=24547328:24547328&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+22%2C+1989&author=Casey+Banas.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=The+challenge+Superbright+kids+find+it+at+Avery+Coonley+School&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 11, 2010 | archive-date = October 26, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026095251/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24547328.html?dids=24547328:24547328&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+22,+1989&author=Casey+Banas.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=The+challenge+Superbright+kids+find+it+at+Avery+Coonley+School&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> Students may join older groups to study subjects, which they are exceptionally advanced; however, age groups are usually kept together "for social and emotional values".<ref name="giftedpupils" /> All middle school students complete a high school level ] in mathematics in either algebra or geometry.<ref name="k8">{{cite web |title=Kindergarten&nbsp;– 8th Group |url=http://www.averycoonley.org/?k8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724031905/http://www.averycoonley.org/?k8 |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |access-date=January 11, 2010 |publisher=The Avery Coonley School}}</ref>

All students study French, which is taught by ], a technique in which they only speak French during language study.<ref name="zest">{{cite news | title = Pupil's Zest for Learning Drives Innovative School | last = Banas | first = Casey | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = November 6, 1995 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24547328.html?dids=24547328:24547328&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+22%2C+1989&author=Casey+Banas.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=The+challenge+Superbright+kids+find+it+at+Avery+Coonley+School&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 11, 2010 | archive-date = October 26, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026095251/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24547328.html?dids=24547328:24547328&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+22,+1989&author=Casey+Banas.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=The+challenge+Superbright+kids+find+it+at+Avery+Coonley+School&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> All signs in the building are written in both French and English.<ref>Follett 2006, p. 38.</ref>

]

=== Technology ===

Avery Coonley began using computers for instruction in 1971 and offering computer programming to students as young as the fourth group in 1976.<ref name="family">{{cite news | title = One Big, Smart, Happy Family | last = Banas | first = Casey | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = September 12, 1976 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/616755562.html?FMT=AI&dids=616755562:616755562&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+12%2C+1976&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=One+big%2C+smart%2C+happy+family | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130131230117/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/616755562.html?FMT=AI&dids=616755562:616755562&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+12,+1976&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=One+big,+smart,+happy+family | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 31, 2013 | format = fee required| access-date = January 15, 2010}}</ref> Desktop computers were brought into the classrooms to teach math, language arts, music, art, and computer programming, in 1978.<ref>{{cite news | title = Computers Help Us All Learn | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | last = De Carlo | first = Angela | date = November 9, 1980 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/619735182.html?FMT=AI&dids=619735182:619735182&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+9%2C+1980&author=Angela+De+Carlo&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%281963-Current+file%29&desc=Computers+help+us+all+learn | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120714045909/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/619735182.html?FMT=AI&dids=619735182:619735182&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+9,+1980&author=Angela+De+Carlo&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(1963-Current+file)&desc=Computers+help+us+all+learn | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 14, 2012 | format = fee required| access-date = January 15, 2010}}</ref> Students begin learning basic keyboard and mouse skills in kindergarten and progress to multimedia presentations, data management, and software coding in the eighth group.<ref>{{cite web|title=Technology Overview |url=http://www.averycoonley.org/?k8#tech |publisher=The Avery Coonley School |access-date=January 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724031905/http://www.averycoonley.org/?k8 |archive-date=July 24, 2011 }}</ref>

In what ACS calls "one-to-one computing", every student in the fifth group through the eighth group receives a tablet computer, which they use to manage their daily schedules, work on class assignments, and prepare special projects. Students in early childhood and junior kindergarten have shared tablets available, and each kindergarten through the fourth group class has at least four.<ref name="campus" /> Students study in classrooms equipped with wireless overhead projectors, manipulate programs and presentations on ]-equipped ], and engage in self-paced classroom learning using ActiveExpression wireless response systems. Students, teachers, and parents communicate and interact online via a school-wide ] and an ] for parents. Sixteen dual platform ]s were added in 2009 for computer lab work.<ref name="campus">{{cite web | title = The Avery Coonley Campus | url = http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=campus | publisher = The Avery Coonley School |access-date = January 12, 2010}}</ref>

== Traditions ==

] Program in 1962, it has been performed each year since 1929.<ref name="studentsshare" />]]
A hallmark of the curriculum in the earliest days was study organized around major themes—trees, Shakespeare, Egypt and other subjects—that built over the school year into major class projects, performances, and all-school gatherings. Many of these themes and events have grown into lasting school traditions, with which the school community has come to identify each group and certain times of year. One of the school's most cherished traditions, tapping maple trees to make syrup, began with the move to the new building in 1929.<ref name="tapsap">{{cite news | title = Downers Grove Pupils Tap Sap From Maples | newspaper = Chicago Daily Tribune | date = April 8, 1956 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/515028362.html?FMT=AI&dids=515028362:515028362&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+8%2C+1956&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+%281872-1963%29&desc=DOWNERS+GROVE+PUPILS+TAP+SAP+FROM+MAPLES | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130131201351/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/515028362.html?FMT=AI&dids=515028362:515028362&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+8,+1956&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+(1872-1963)&desc=DOWNERS+GROVE+PUPILS+TAP+SAP+FROM+MAPLES | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 31, 2013 | format = fee required | access-date = January 15, 2010 }}</ref> The Spring Fair, in which groups one through five each prepare and perform their own dance, has been held annually since the 1930s—the ] dance by the fifth group dates back to the beginning of the Cottage School.<ref>Portman 2008, p. 46.</ref>

In the annual ] Program, the students, in identical brown capes, silently construct a large ] of fruits and vegetables in a ceremony choreographed to music prepared by each class. The food is later donated to ]. It is the most treasured of the school traditions, and has been performed every year, virtually unchanged, since 1929, until 2023 where speeches about each part of the ceremony were given by 8th group students. This marked the last year any students wore capes, as six students who had attended Avery Coonley from Early Childhood until 8th grade gave a speech in honor of the long-lasting practice, bringing an end to the tradition.<ref name="studentsshare">{{cite news | title = All Students Share In School's Cornucopia | last = Goldsborough | first = Bob | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = November 28, 1994 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24105122.html?FMT=FT&dids=24105122:24105122&FMTS=CITE:FT&type=current&date=Nov+28%2C+1994&author=Bob+Goldsborough.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=ALL+STUDENTS+SHARE+IN+SCHOOL%27S+CORNUCOPIA | format = fee required | access-date = January 27, 2010 | archive-date = February 19, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160219172051/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/offers.html?url=%2Fchicagotribune%2Fdoc%2F283828372.html%3FFMT%3DFT%26FMTS%3DCITE%3AFT%26type%3Dcurrent%26date%3DNov%252028%2C%25201994%26author%3DBob%2520Goldsborough.%26pub%3DChicago%2520Tribune%2520%28pre-1997%2520Fulltext%29%26edition%3D%26startpage%3D%26desc%3DALL%2520STUDENTS%2520SHARE%2520IN%2520SCHOOL%27S%2520CORNUCOPIA | url-status = dead }}</ref>

== Extracurricular activities ==

Many of the extracurricular activities offered at ACS offer an extension of classroom subjects and an opportunity for students to pursue those studies in additional depth. Within the arts program, chorus, creative writing, drama, art, and three levels of orchestra are offered as optional activities. Students in these groups have opportunities to perform and exhibit their work throughout the year. The Book Club is available to students in groups six and above to extend the reading program. Computer Club, Creative Writing Club, Art Club, French Film Club, and Drama Club also offer opportunities to build on classroom activities.<ref name="ataglance" />

The yearbook is called ''Reflections''.<ref name="ataglance" />

] are offered to students in group five and interscholastic sports are available in groups five through eight. ACS competes in the West DuPage Elementary School Association (WDESA) Conference. Team sports include co-ed ], boys and girls' ] in the fall, boys' and girls' ] in the winter, and co-ed ] in the spring. There are no team tryouts and all students are free to participate.<ref name="ataglance" />

== Student body and finances ==

Admission is competitive and decisions are based on evaluations of applicants' intellectual ability, social and emotional maturity, and readiness for the accelerated program of study.<ref name="giftedpupils">{{cite news | title = Gifted Pupils Find a Home at School; Coonley Curriculum Sets Accelerated Pace | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | last = O'Brien | first = Ken | date = May 12, 2004 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/635632241.html?dids=635632241:635632241&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+12%2C+2004&author=Ken+O%27Brien%2C+Special+to+the+Tribune&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Gifted+pupils+find+a+home+at+school+%3B+Coonley+curriculum+sets+accelerated+pace&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 10, 2010 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111222905/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/635632241.html?dids=635632241:635632241&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+12%2C+2004&author=Ken+O%27Brien%2C+Special+to+the+Tribune&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Gifted+pupils+find+a+home+at+school+%3B+Coonley+curriculum+sets+accelerated+pace&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> Applicants for kindergarten through eighth group must submit IQ test results at or above the 95th&nbsp;percentile (at or above 124 on the ] (WPPSI) or ] (WISC)), with consistent subtest scores, to qualify for consideration.<ref name="apply">{{cite web |title=Admission Process |url=http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=admissionprocess |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217091148/http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=admissionprocess |archive-date=2009-02-17 |access-date=January 12, 2010 |publisher=The Avery Coonley School}}</ref>

Avery Coonley serves 338 students aged 3 through 14 as of 2023, with a nearly even ratio of males to females in each grade.<ref name="ataglance" /> ACS seeks to achieve ethnic diversity in every group,<ref name="mission">{{cite web | title = Mission & Philosophy | url = http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=mission | publisher = The Avery Coonley School |access-date = January 12, 2010}}</ref> and offers limited need-based aid to families of children who would otherwise be unable to attend.<ref name="tuition" /> The student body is "primarily middle- and upper-class white suburban children",<ref name="family" /> and students "come from some of the most affluent families"<ref name="cremedelamcreme" /> in Chicago's western suburbs, but thirty percent of the students are non-white.<ref name="studentsshare" />

Tuition for kindergarten through group eight was $23,950, junior kindergarten was $11,700, and early childhood $6,200 in 2018.<ref name="tuition">{{cite web|url=http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=tuition|title=Tuition & Financial Aid|publisher=The Avery Coonley School|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217091209/http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=tuition|archive-date=2009-02-17|url-status=dead|access-date=January 9, 2010}}</ref> The Annual Giving Fund makes up 3.5&nbsp;percent and the Annual Auction another 5&nbsp;percent of the operating budget ($5.9&nbsp;million in 2008–2009).<ref name="ataglance">{{cite web | url = http://www.averycoonley.org/?page=acs_at_a_glance | title = ACS at a Glance | publisher = The Avery Coonley School |access-date = January 9, 2010}}</ref>

== Academic achievement ==

"Avery Coonley reports that scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, an exam given in schools across the United States, are in the top 1 percent in the nation",<ref name="cremedelamcreme">{{cite news | title = In Schools Avery Coonley is Crème de la Crème | last = Banas | first = Casey | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = November 4, 1999 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/17243605.html?dids=17243605:17243605&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+02%2C+1996&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Tribune+Education+Writer.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=IN+SCHOOLS%2C+AVERY+COONLEY+IS+CREME+DE+LA+CREME&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 12, 2010 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111224715/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/17243605.html?dids=17243605:17243605&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+02%2C+1996&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Tribune+Education+Writer.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=IN+SCHOOLS%2C+AVERY+COONLEY+IS+CREME+DE+LA+CREME&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> with average scores of 99 in all eight grades and all four test sections (vocabulary, comprehension, language arts, and mathematics).<ref name="notallacademic">{{cite news | title = It's Not All Academic at Avery Coonley School in Downer's Grove | last = Banas | first = Casey | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = October 2, 1996 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/46077867.html?dids=46077867:46077867&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+04%2C+1999&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Tribune+Education+Writer&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=IT%27S+NOT+ALL+ACADEMIC+AT+AVERY+COONLEY+SCHOOL+IN+DOWNERS+GROVE%2C+INTELLECTUALLY+ELITE+PUPILS+ALSO+GET+LESSONS+IN+CULTURE+AND+CHARACTER.&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 10, 2010 | archive-date = January 12, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120112203847/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/46077867.html?dids=46077867:46077867&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+04%2C+1999&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Tribune+Education+Writer&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=IT%27S+NOT+ALL+ACADEMIC+AT+AVERY+COONLEY+SCHOOL+IN+DOWNERS+GROVE%2C+INTELLECTUALLY+ELITE+PUPILS+ALSO+GET+LESSONS+IN+CULTURE+AND+CHARACTER.&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> Avery Coonley was one of seventeen Illinois schools recognized as a ] by the ] in 1987–88<ref name="blueribbon">{{cite web|title=Blue Ribbon Schools Program |url=http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf |publisher=US Department of Education |year=1982 |page=28 |access-date=January 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326055622/http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2009 }}</ref> for "excellence in student success, school philosophy, curriculum, leadership, and climate".<ref name="toprating">{{cite news | title = 17 Illinois Schools Get Top Rating | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | last = Banas | first = Casey | date = May 30, 1988 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24783753.html?dids=24783753:24783753&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+30%2C+1988&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Education+writer&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=17+ILLINOIS+SCHOOLS+GET+TOP+RATING&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 15, 2010 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111225156/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24783753.html?dids=24783753:24783753&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+30%2C+1988&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Education+writer&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=17+ILLINOIS+SCHOOLS+GET+TOP+RATING&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> Students have a record of top honors at the state<ref>{{cite news | title = Western Suburbs Claim Junior High Math Titles | last = Banas | first = Casey | date = March 8, 1989 | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24690454.html?dids=24690454:24690454&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+08%2C+1989&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Education+writer.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Western+suburbs+claim+junior+high+math+titles&pqatl=google | format = fee required | access-date = January 17, 2010 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111225130/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24690454.html?dids=24690454:24690454&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+08%2C+1989&author=Casey+Banas%2C+Education+writer.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Western+suburbs+claim+junior+high+math+titles&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> and national<ref>{{cite news | title = Avery Coonley Counts in Math | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = June 18, 1989 | last = Breyers | first = Timothy | format = fee required | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24538655.html?dids=24538655:24538655&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+18%2C+1989&author=Timothy+Bryers.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Avery+Coonley+counts+in+math&pqatl=google | access-date = January 17, 2010 | archive-date = January 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120111232256/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24538655.html?dids=24538655:24538655&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+18%2C+1989&author=Timothy+Bryers.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Avery+Coonley+counts+in+math&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref> level in science, math, geography and other subjects stretching back as far as 1989. In recent competitions, students won 24 Gold Medals at the 2009 Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) Science Fair,<ref>{{cite web|title=Project Session Results |publisher=Illinois Junior Academy of Science |url=http://www2.niles-hs.k12.il.us/jacnau/IJAS/ProjectSessionResults09.html |access-date=January 11, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Paper Session Results |publisher=Illinois Junior Academy of Science |url=http://www2.niles-hs.k12.il.us/jacnau/IJAS/PaperSessionResults09.html |access-date=January 11, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and won the Science Olympiad Jr. High State Championship.<ref>{{cite news | title = Education Briefs | newspaper = The Downers Grove Sun | date = May 17, 2007 |url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-11989A3CD24F31E0.html | format = subscription required | access-date = January 25, 2010}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Avery Coonley won the 2009 IMSA Junior High Mathematics Competition (with four out of five first place awards) and placed second in the 2009 Illinois State MATHCOUNTS competition.<ref>{{cite news | title = Kennedy Students Earn Mathcounts Honors | newspaper = The Naperville Sun | date = March 26, 2009}}</ref> In 2008, a seventh group student placed in the top 0.2&nbsp;percent of competitors from around the world with a perfect score in the 24th annual ].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e4-amc08/e4-1-8archive/2008-8a/spry_perfect/2008-amc8perfect+2.shtml | title = AMC8 2008 Perfect Scores United States | publisher = The Mathematical Association of America | access-date = January 12, 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091216130501/http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e4-amc08/e4-1-8archive/2008-8a/spry_perfect/2008-amc8perfect+2.shtml | archive-date = December 16, 2009 }}</ref>

The school's students regularly win academic competitions or rank highly. Controversy erupted in 1994, when ACS won the Illinois State Science Fair team competition for the fourth year in a row, prompting the IJAS "to banish the school from team competition for next year, on the grounds that their students were 'just too good.{{'"}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Bassett |first=Patrick |url=http://www.nais.org/about/article.cfm?ItemNumber=147140&sn.ItemNumber=4181&tn.ItemNumber=147138 |title=The Academy of (Lesser) Science |newspaper=Education Week |date=August 3, 1994 |access-date=January 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125175634/http://nais.org/about/article.cfm?ItemNumber=147140&sn.ItemNumber=4181&tn.ItemNumber=147138 |archive-date=November 25, 2010 }}</ref> The incident attracted national attention.<ref name="dumbingdown">{{cite book | title = Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add | last = Sykes | first = Charles | publisher = St. Martin's Griffin | year = 1996 | place = New York | page = | isbn = 978-0-312-14823-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/dumbingdownourki00syke/page/65 }}</ref> Avery Coonley students won 24 top individual awards the following year.<ref>{{cite news | last= Banas | first = Casey | title = Avery Coonley Kids Still a Force at Fair | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | date = May 9, 1995 | id = {{ProQuest|283980406}} }}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{cnote|a|Harrison's teacher's college was founded in 1886 as Miss Harrison's Training School. It was renamed the Chicago Kindergarten College in 1893, became the National Kindergarten College in 1912, and the National College of Education in 1930. It was as the National College of Education that it merged with Avery Coonley in 1943. The National College of Education was renamed yet again in 1990, when it became National Louis University.<ref name="historyofnlu">{{cite web|title=The History of National Louis University |publisher=National Louis University |url=http://www.nl.edu/about/history.cfm |access-date=February 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527140542/http://www.nl.edu/about/history.cfm |archive-date=May 27, 2010 }}</ref>}}
{{cnote|b|The windows were later removed and sold at auction. Several of them are in the collections of the ] in New York<ref>{{cite web | title = Clerestory Windows from Avery Coonley Playhouse, Riverside, Illinois | publisher = The Museum of Modern Art | url = http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=1536 | access-date = January 26, 2010}}</ref> and the ].<ref>{{cite web | title = Avery Coonley Playhouse: Triptych Window, 1912 | publisher = The Art Institute of Chicago | url = http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/105203 | access-date = January 26, 2010}}</ref>}}
{{cnote|c|Coonley helped found six private kindergartens between 1906 and 1920.<ref name="Follett 2006, p18" /> Among these was a kindergarten for the nearby village of ], founded in 1911. The Brookfield Kindergarten was located at 3601 Forest Avenue, and designed by one of Wright's students, William E. Drummond. It is listed on the ], which considers it "one of his finest designs".<ref>{{cite web | title = Brookfield Kindergarten | work = Historic American Buildings Survey | publisher = Library of Congress | url = http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?pp/hh:@field%28TITLE+@od1%28Brookfield+Kindergarten,+3601+Forest+Avenue,+Brookfield,+Cook+County,+IL%29%29 | access-date = February 24, 2010}}</ref> It was acquired by the Board of Education in 1929 and used as a public kindergarten. It is now split into two private residences.<ref name="collection" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Brookfield Kindergarten |work=Historic American Buildings Survey |publisher=National Park Service, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation |pages=2–3 |url=http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/il/il0000/il0093/data/il0093.pdf |access-date=February 24, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604113124/http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/il/il0000/il0093/data/il0093.pdf |archive-date=June 4, 2011 }}</ref>}}
{{cnote|d|Faulkner would later design a house in Washington, D.C., for Morse, as a retirement gift from Coonley.<ref name="collection" />}}
{{cnote|e|Jensen had worked on the extensive gardens at the Coonley House from 1908 to 1917 and designed the Playhouse grounds in 1913.<ref>Grese 1992, p. 201.</ref>}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Works cited ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | title = Readings from Progressive Education: A Movement and Its Professional Journal: Vol 1 | last1 = Brown | last2 = Finn | last3 = Brown | first1 = Stephen | first2 = Mary | first3 = Eileen | publisher = University Press of America | year = 1988 | place = Lanham, MD | isbn= 978-0-8191-6916-7 }}
* {{cite book |title=Schools of To-Morrow |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.42831 |last1= Dewey |first1= John | last2 = Evelyn | year = 1915 |publisher= E.P. Dutton & Company |location=New York | oclc = 962918}}
* {{cite book | title = Experience and Education | last = Dewey | first = John | publisher = Kappa Delta Pi| location = West Lafayette, Indiana | year = 1998 |edition = 60th anniversary| isbn= 978-0-912099-34-7}}
* {{cite journal | author = Follett, Jean A. | date = November 2006 | journal = National Register of Historic Places | title = NRHP Nomination: Avery Coonley School | publisher = National Park Service }}.
* {{cite book | title = Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens | url = https://archive.org/details/jensjensenmakero0000gres | url-access = registration | last = Grese | first = Robert | year = 1992 | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | location = Baltimore | isbn = 978-0-8018-4287-0}}
* {{cite book | title = Finding Wisdom: Chronicles of a School of Today | first = Gertrude| last = Hartman | publisher = The John Day Company | location = New York | year = 1938 | oclc = 2922594}}
* {{cite book | title = Education of the Gifted and Talented: Report to the Congress of the United States by the U.S. Commissioner of Education and Background Papers Submitted to the U.S. Office of Education | last = Marland | first = S. P. Jr. | year = 1972 | publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office | location = Washington, D.C. | oclc = 334925}}
* {{cite book | title = A Simple Wish: The First Century of the Avery Coonley School | last = Portman | first = Chris | publisher = The Avery Coonley School | place = Downers Grove, IL | year = 2008 | oclc = 225533489}}
* {{cite book | title = Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works | last = Reed | first = Cleota | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | year = 1987 | location = Philadelphia | isbn = 978-0-8122-8076-0 }}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|The Avery Coonley School}}
* {{Official website|https://www.averycoonley.org/}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Frank Lloyd Wright}}
{{Portal bar|Schools|Chicago|Illinois}}
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Latest revision as of 02:14, 1 October 2024

School in Downers Grove, Illinois, United States
The Avery Coonley School
A red brick building and three sides of a white columned cloister behind a large reflecting pool
Address
1400 Maple Avenue
Downers Grove, Illinois
United States
Coordinates41°47′17″N 88°01′12″W / 41.788°N 88.020°W / 41.788; -88.020
Information
School type
Motto"Onward and Upward"
Established1906
NCES School ID02024267
Head of schoolKirsty Montgomery
GradesPreschool–8
GenderCoed
Age range3–14
Enrollment338 (2023)
Campus size11 acres (4.5 ha)
Campus typeSuburban
Color(s)   Orange and blue
MascotFightin' Seahorse
AccreditationNorth Central Association
AffiliationNational Association of Independent Schools
Websitewww.averycoonley.org
Coonley, Avery, School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Avery Coonley School is located in IllinoisAvery Coonley SchoolShow map of IllinoisAvery Coonley School is located in the United StatesAvery Coonley SchoolShow map of the United States
Location1400 Maple Ave., Downers Grove, Illinois
Area10.5 acres (4.2 ha)
Built1929
ArchitectWaldron Faulkner; Hamilton, Fellows & Nedved, et al.
Architectural stylePrairie School
NRHP reference No.07000477
Added to NRHPAugust 8, 2007

The Avery Coonley School (ACS), commonly called Avery Coonley, is an independent, coeducational day school serving academically gifted students in preschool through eighth grade (approximately ages 3 to 14), and is located in Downers Grove, DuPage County, Illinois. The school was founded in 1906 to promote the progressive educational theories developed by John Dewey and other turn-of-the-20th-century philosophers, and was a nationally recognized model for progressive education well into the 1940s. From 1943 to 1965, Avery Coonley was part of the National College of Education (now National Louis University), serving as a living laboratory for teacher training.

The school moved to Downers Grove in 1916 and became the Avery Coonley School in 1929, with a new 10.45-acre (4.23 ha) campus designed in the Prairie and Arts and Crafts styles, landscaped by Jens Jensen. Avery Coonley was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

History

Founding and Cottage School (1906–1916)

Sepia image of a small snow-covered stone cottage surrounded by tall trees
The Cottage on the Coonley Estate, first home of the Avery Coonley School. Designed by Charles Whittlesey in 1894, it later became a private residence.

In 1906, Queene Ferry Coonley, wife of wealthy Riverside industrialist and publisher Avery Coonley, decided to start a kindergarten program to allow children younger than five years old to attend. Queene Coonley was trained as a social worker and kindergarten teacher at the Detroit Normal School (now Wayne State University) and was impressed by the theories of Friedrich Fröbel, who believed children's early education should be an extension of their lives at home.

Coonley persuaded the director of the Riverside program, Lucia Burton Morse, and her assistant, Charlotte Krum, to help launch a new school. Their progressive views on education emphasized an individualized approach to education and children learning from experience and social interaction. Coonley described the new school as "a Children's Community. Its purpose was not so much to teach what others had thought or grown-ups had done, but for the children themselves to do something."

Low building with ivy draped terrace and three prominent vertical windows with tall trees in the background
The Coonley Playhouse, with its signature "kinder-symphony" windows, was built by Frank Lloyd Wright to house the Cottage School in 1912. It has been nominated as a National Historic Landmark.

A small cottage on the Coonley estate served as the first school building, and the first name was The Cottage School. The designer was Charles Whittlesey. The estate's main building, the Avery Coonley House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is now a National Historic Landmark. A new building was completed in 1912 and became known as the Coonley Playhouse. It featured colored art glass windows, flags, balloons, and confetti in what Wright referred to as a "kinder-symphony". Some have claimed that they belong to Wright's most famous windows.

The Cottage School was free to all students, and was supported both by Coonley's own resources and funds raised by the Kindergarten Education Association. In 1915, John Dewey and his daughter Evelyn featured the Cottage School in their book, The Schools of To-Morrow, which examined how progressive schools around the country put new educational ideas into action. The Deweys considered the Cottage School to be an example of training in good citizenship and approved of its mock elections, self-government, and public service.

Junior Elementary School (1916–1929)

A two-story Tudor style building in a forest of tall trees
The Junior Elementary School in Downers Grove. The building was demolished in 1944 and the land was sold. It was later donated to create what would become Fishel Park.

At the same time the Playhouse was built, Coonley agreed to build a kindergarten in the nearby town of Downers Grove, which did not have a public school. Coonley purchased land on Grove Street and commissioned the architectural firm of Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton to design the building. The school, led by Lucia Morse, was launched as the Kindergarten Extension Association School in 1912. In 1916, the Cottage School was closed and a first grade program was launched at the Downers Grove kindergarten, which was renamed the Junior Elementary School. To accommodate older students, a second grade class was added in 1920 for students around seven years old, a third grade in 1926 for eight-year-olds, and a fourth grade for nine-year-old students shortly thereafter.

The Coonleys moved to Washington, D.C., in 1916. Morse looked after the day-to-day direction of the school. Teachers at the Junior Elementary School were encouraged to find a new way of relating to students, allowing them more freedom. Coonley recalled that "boys and girls cooked, boys and girls did carpenter work, boys and girls took an equal part in all matters of government." Students re-enacted history and literature, composed music, and spent time outdoors. In 1924, Coonley and Morse helped found a journal entitled Progressive Education, in which they published their own practical experiences at the school and articles by educational theorists including John Dewey. It became the leading professional journal of the progressive education movement and was published until 1957.

Avery Coonley School (1929–1960s)

Pen and ink sketch elevation of a three sided campus surrounding a pool
Architectural sketch of The Avery Coonley School campus by Waldron Faulkner. Faulkner would later become one of the principal architects for the campus of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Coonley chose a wooded tract in Downers Grove, adjacent to the Maple Grove Forest Preserve, as the site for the new building, and her son-in-law, Waldron Faulkner, was the architect of the new building project. Over one hundred students attended school in the opened building on September 30, 1929, and it was renamed The Avery Coonley School, in honor of Coonley's late husband, who had died in 1920. Coonley chose as a mascot a seahorse, a unique creature who was also a member of a larger community. The seahorse swims upright, from which derives the school motto: "Onward and Upward".

Progressive education, a pedagogy promoting learning through real-life experiences, was at its zenith in the United States in the 1920s and 30s, and the Avery Coonley School was a widely known model of these theories in action. Avery Coonley was featured regularly in Progressive Education and other professional journals, and in 1938, the editor of Progressive Education, Gertrude Hartman, published a profile of the Avery Coonley School in her book Finding Wisdom: Chronicles of a School of Today. She noted, "isitors from all parts of the United States and from foreign countries to see the school—sometimes as many as thirty in a day."

The book described the progress of the students from their first year of kindergarten through their ten years of study, providing photos, stories, and examples of students' work. Finding Wisdom became a classic in the education field and solidified the Avery Coonley School's national reputation as a model of progressive education.

Morse died in 1940, after 34 years as director, and several years went by without a strong local leadership. To ensure a sounder footing for the future, Coonley merged Avery Coonley with the National College of Education (NCE, formerly the Chicago Kindergarten College and now National Louis University) in Evanston, Illinois, in 1943. The two institutions had close ties dating back to Morse's Kindergarten College days, and the arrangement took advantage of the NCE's financial and teaching resources while Avery Coonley provided a living laboratory for teacher training and educational research. The school continued offering the curriculum for which it had become known.

A seated woman, gray hair pinned up, in a black dress with fur collar before a plain white background
Queene Ferry Coonley, founder and patron of the Avery Coonley School from 1906 to 1958. She was remembered as an advocate for women's suffrage and progressive education.

Coonley died in 1958. With her donations now missing, ACS began charging tuition in 1929. By 1964, enrollment had (again) reached 200 students.

In 1965, the Administrative Board purchased Avery Coonley from the NCE. ACS joined the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) in 1961. ISACS was founded in 1908 to promote best practices in independent schools, and instituted a mandatory accreditation program for member schools in 1961. Avery Coonley served as ISACS headquarters from 1970 until the central office was dissolved in 2000.

Malach also established the Institute for Educational Research (IER) in 1964 as a center for educational experimentation. The Institute, headquartered at ACS, was a joint venture with more than thirty public school districts, which collaborated on research projects and shared in the findings. Examples of other projects include kindergarten speech programs, elementary science programs, and speed reading in junior high school.

Gifted education (1960s–present)

The kindergarten reading program was the first step in the Avery Coonley School's transition to a new focus on the education of the gifted. An increasing focus on gifted education in North America was symbolized by the 1972 Marland Report to the United States Congress, which was the first acknowledgment of the characteristics of gifted children and their specific educational needs. ACS headmaster Malach believed that the educational philosophy of his school was well aligned with the most important objectives of a gifted program.

A small white brick gatehouse in front a forest of changing leaves, with a black asphalt driveway on its left
The Gatehouse, originally the headmaster's residence, has housed the early childhood program since 1989.

In 1960, ACS began screening applicants for high intellectual potential, requiring a tested IQ above 120, achievement test results one and a half grade levels above national norms in reading and math, and intensive in-person evaluations. Teachers began adapting the curriculum accordingly. The core of the gifted curriculum remained the individualized approaches and learning by doing.

Campus

1929 building

Two sides of a brick courtyard with white cloister behind a green lawn and a reflecting pool
The original 1929 construction, showing the cloister and reflecting pool. The original landscape design was restored in 2006.

The campus occupies 10.45 acres (4.23 ha) off of Maple Avenue in Downers Grove. It borders the Maple Grove Forest Preserve, created in 1919, one of the oldest forest preserves in the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County system. The 82-acre (33 ha) preserve protects "the largest remaining remnant of the vast maple forest that became Downers Grove", and has been categorized a globally endangered ecosystem. The forest is a refuge for a wide range of birds and trees. The preserve is used by students in their science and nature activities.

The designer of the grounds, Jens Jensen, was known as "the father of the Chicago park system." His work became famous for his exclusive use of plants and materials native to the local region, and was characterized by his use of open spaces, flowing water, gently curving lines, and low circular benches, where people can gather. A restoration of Jensen's landscape design was completed in 2006 as part of the ACS centennial celebration.

The building was designed by Coonley's son-in-law Waldron Faulkner with his son Avery Coonley Faulkner. The design in the style of the Prairie School was typical of the American Arts and Crafts style. The easy access to the outdoors, ground floor classrooms, separate science laboratories, and planned outdoor play area are among the features of the design that would later be adopted by schools throughout the US after World War II.

Brightly colored stacked truncated octahedrons with children's faces in the openings
Interconnected "Learning Spaces" in the third grade classroom, designed in 1970 and patented by the school

The Avery Coonley School was designated a historical site by the Downers Grove Historical Society in 2006, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Recent additions

Empty blue seats and a small orchestra on a lighted stage, as seen from the rear of an auditorium
The Performing Arts Center (PAC), part of the 1993 addition. Drama, music, and other performances are an integral part of the curriculum.

A new wing was added in early 1980 to provide additional space for the arts, with a large room for orchestra and music and another for studio art. The Gatehouse, which was built in 1929 and had served as the headmaster's residence, was remodeled to house the early childhood program in 1988.

A 1992 addition included a new 17,500-volume library, a 16-station computer lab, and a 236-seat Performing Arts Center (PAC). Moravian tiles around the new foyer fireplace and library doors pay homage to the original building. The PAC "is known for its excellent acoustics", and hosts student productions and outside artistic groups, including the Beck Institute for the Arts, which stages musical recitals there.

Avery Coonley added a full-day kindergarten program in 2005, again requiring more space and a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m) middle school wing.

Curriculum

The founding educational philosophy is still evident in the modern day curriculum in the focus on learning by doing, teaching based on broad themes that cross subjects, an emphasis on collaborative projects, and a de-emphasis of textbooks. There remains a close integration of art and nature in daily activities and a focus on the development of social skills and education for social responsibility. These principles, adapted in the 1970s for gifted students, have been further extended to accommodate new developments in technology and educational research.

ACS refers to grade levels as groups, a practice rooted in progressive education that dates back at least to the Junior Elementary School. There are three divisions of students: the early school, which includes the early childhood Program (EC) for three-year-olds and junior kindergarten (JK) for four-year-olds; the lower school for kindergarten through group four, and middle school for groups five through eight. Each class in kindergarten through group eight has 32 students. Each lower school class is team taught by two teachers. The student-to-teacher ratio in the lower and middle school is 16 to 1, 11 to 1 in kindergarten, 8 to 1 in junior kindergarten, and 7 to 1 in the early childhood program.

Academic program

A young girl in a white fleece jacket in a forest collecting maple sap in a bucket
A second group student collecting sap for maple syrup in the Forest Preserve, the culmination of her study of trees

As of 2009, the curriculum is accelerated for each group, which is separated by grade and age; students are instructed a minimum of one year above their current grade level. (For example, the first group is taught at a second grade level.) Students are grouped within their class to allow each of them work at the level of their ability, and they may work several years beyond their current level if they can do so. Students may join older groups to study subjects, which they are exceptionally advanced; however, age groups are usually kept together "for social and emotional values". All middle school students complete a high school level honors course in mathematics in either algebra or geometry.

All students study French, which is taught by language immersion, a technique in which they only speak French during language study. All signs in the building are written in both French and English.

A young Asian boy in a gray T-shirt at a round table using a tablet computer
An Avery Coonley student with a tablet computer, assigned to older students and made available to all students beginning at age three

Technology

Avery Coonley began using computers for instruction in 1971 and offering computer programming to students as young as the fourth group in 1976. Desktop computers were brought into the classrooms to teach math, language arts, music, art, and computer programming, in 1978. Students begin learning basic keyboard and mouse skills in kindergarten and progress to multimedia presentations, data management, and software coding in the eighth group.

In what ACS calls "one-to-one computing", every student in the fifth group through the eighth group receives a tablet computer, which they use to manage their daily schedules, work on class assignments, and prepare special projects. Students in early childhood and junior kindergarten have shared tablets available, and each kindergarten through the fourth group class has at least four. Students study in classrooms equipped with wireless overhead projectors, manipulate programs and presentations on touchscreen-equipped SMART board systems, and engage in self-paced classroom learning using ActiveExpression wireless response systems. Students, teachers, and parents communicate and interact online via a school-wide intranet and an extranet for parents. Sixteen dual platform iMacs were added in 2009 for computer lab work.

Traditions

A group of small children and their teachers in a line, wearing brown capes and carrying food in their hands
The Thanksgiving Program in 1962, it has been performed each year since 1929.

A hallmark of the curriculum in the earliest days was study organized around major themes—trees, Shakespeare, Egypt and other subjects—that built over the school year into major class projects, performances, and all-school gatherings. Many of these themes and events have grown into lasting school traditions, with which the school community has come to identify each group and certain times of year. One of the school's most cherished traditions, tapping maple trees to make syrup, began with the move to the new building in 1929. The Spring Fair, in which groups one through five each prepare and perform their own dance, has been held annually since the 1930s—the Maypole dance by the fifth group dates back to the beginning of the Cottage School.

In the annual Thanksgiving Program, the students, in identical brown capes, silently construct a large cornucopia of fruits and vegetables in a ceremony choreographed to music prepared by each class. The food is later donated to The Salvation Army. It is the most treasured of the school traditions, and has been performed every year, virtually unchanged, since 1929, until 2023 where speeches about each part of the ceremony were given by 8th group students. This marked the last year any students wore capes, as six students who had attended Avery Coonley from Early Childhood until 8th grade gave a speech in honor of the long-lasting practice, bringing an end to the tradition.

Extracurricular activities

Many of the extracurricular activities offered at ACS offer an extension of classroom subjects and an opportunity for students to pursue those studies in additional depth. Within the arts program, chorus, creative writing, drama, art, and three levels of orchestra are offered as optional activities. Students in these groups have opportunities to perform and exhibit their work throughout the year. The Book Club is available to students in groups six and above to extend the reading program. Computer Club, Creative Writing Club, Art Club, French Film Club, and Drama Club also offer opportunities to build on classroom activities.

The yearbook is called Reflections.

Intramural sports are offered to students in group five and interscholastic sports are available in groups five through eight. ACS competes in the West DuPage Elementary School Association (WDESA) Conference. Team sports include co-ed soccer, boys and girls' volleyball in the fall, boys' and girls' basketball in the winter, and co-ed track in the spring. There are no team tryouts and all students are free to participate.

Student body and finances

Admission is competitive and decisions are based on evaluations of applicants' intellectual ability, social and emotional maturity, and readiness for the accelerated program of study. Applicants for kindergarten through eighth group must submit IQ test results at or above the 95th percentile (at or above 124 on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)), with consistent subtest scores, to qualify for consideration.

Avery Coonley serves 338 students aged 3 through 14 as of 2023, with a nearly even ratio of males to females in each grade. ACS seeks to achieve ethnic diversity in every group, and offers limited need-based aid to families of children who would otherwise be unable to attend. The student body is "primarily middle- and upper-class white suburban children", and students "come from some of the most affluent families" in Chicago's western suburbs, but thirty percent of the students are non-white.

Tuition for kindergarten through group eight was $23,950, junior kindergarten was $11,700, and early childhood $6,200 in 2018. The Annual Giving Fund makes up 3.5 percent and the Annual Auction another 5 percent of the operating budget ($5.9 million in 2008–2009).

Academic achievement

"Avery Coonley reports that scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, an exam given in schools across the United States, are in the top 1 percent in the nation", with average scores of 99 in all eight grades and all four test sections (vocabulary, comprehension, language arts, and mathematics). Avery Coonley was one of seventeen Illinois schools recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education in 1987–88 for "excellence in student success, school philosophy, curriculum, leadership, and climate". Students have a record of top honors at the state and national level in science, math, geography and other subjects stretching back as far as 1989. In recent competitions, students won 24 Gold Medals at the 2009 Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) Science Fair, and won the Science Olympiad Jr. High State Championship. Avery Coonley won the 2009 IMSA Junior High Mathematics Competition (with four out of five first place awards) and placed second in the 2009 Illinois State MATHCOUNTS competition. In 2008, a seventh group student placed in the top 0.2 percent of competitors from around the world with a perfect score in the 24th annual American Mathematics Contest.

The school's students regularly win academic competitions or rank highly. Controversy erupted in 1994, when ACS won the Illinois State Science Fair team competition for the fourth year in a row, prompting the IJAS "to banish the school from team competition for next year, on the grounds that their students were 'just too good.'" The incident attracted national attention. Avery Coonley students won 24 top individual awards the following year.

Notes

 a: Harrison's teacher's college was founded in 1886 as Miss Harrison's Training School. It was renamed the Chicago Kindergarten College in 1893, became the National Kindergarten College in 1912, and the National College of Education in 1930. It was as the National College of Education that it merged with Avery Coonley in 1943. The National College of Education was renamed yet again in 1990, when it became National Louis University.
 b: The windows were later removed and sold at auction. Several of them are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.
 c: Coonley helped found six private kindergartens between 1906 and 1920. Among these was a kindergarten for the nearby village of Brookfield, Illinois, founded in 1911. The Brookfield Kindergarten was located at 3601 Forest Avenue, and designed by one of Wright's students, William E. Drummond. It is listed on the Historic American Buildings Survey, which considers it "one of his finest designs". It was acquired by the Board of Education in 1929 and used as a public kindergarten. It is now split into two private residences.
 d: Faulkner would later design a house in Washington, D.C., for Morse, as a retirement gift from Coonley.
 e: Jensen had worked on the extensive gardens at the Coonley House from 1908 to 1917 and designed the Playhouse grounds in 1913.

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Works cited

  • Brown, Stephen; Finn, Mary; Brown, Eileen (1988). Readings from Progressive Education: A Movement and Its Professional Journal: Vol 1. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-8191-6916-7.
  • Dewey, John; Evelyn (1915). Schools of To-Morrow. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company. OCLC 962918.
  • Dewey, John (1998). Experience and Education (60th anniversary ed.). West Lafayette, Indiana: Kappa Delta Pi. ISBN 978-0-912099-34-7.
  • Follett, Jean A. (November 2006). "NRHP Nomination: Avery Coonley School". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service..
  • Grese, Robert (1992). Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4287-0.
  • Hartman, Gertrude (1938). Finding Wisdom: Chronicles of a School of Today. New York: The John Day Company. OCLC 2922594.
  • Marland, S. P. Jr. (1972). Education of the Gifted and Talented: Report to the Congress of the United States by the U.S. Commissioner of Education and Background Papers Submitted to the U.S. Office of Education. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 334925.
  • Portman, Chris (2008). A Simple Wish: The First Century of the Avery Coonley School. Downers Grove, IL: The Avery Coonley School. OCLC 225533489.
  • Reed, Cleota (1987). Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-8076-0.

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