Barbara Byrd-Bennett

Barbara Byrd-Bennett is the Chief Executive Officer for Chicago Public Schools (CPS). CPS serves approximately 400,000 students in 665 schools. It is the nation’s third-largest school system. In April 2012, Ms. Byrd-Bennett was appointed as Chief Education Advisor for CPS. Prior to her work in Chicago, she spent more than two decades as a teacher and principal in the New York City Department of Education, the largest system of public schools in the United States. There she was a Superintendent for Brooklyn Schools and the CEO for the Chancellor's District, a non-geographical collection of low performing schools. The Chancellor's District served as a national model for turnarounds. She also served for more than seven years as the CEO of the Cleveland Municipal School District, Ohio’s largest school district, and as the Chief Academic and Accountability Auditor for Detroit Public Schools. Ms. Byrd-Bennett is a member of numerous boards, commissions and advisory councils, including: Common Core, the United States Department of Education National Assessment Governing Board, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Field Museum, Golden Apple, the Education Commission of the States, the National Center for Education Accountability and the Albert Shanker Institute. She also was appointed chair of the American Federation of Teachers Innovation Fund. Ms. Byrd-Bennett holds a Master’s of Science from Pace University, a Master’s of the Arts from New York University and a Bachelor’s of the Arts from Long Island University. Ms. Byrd-Bennett also holds honorary doctorate degrees from Cleveland State University, Baldwin-Wallace College, John Carroll University, the University of Notre Dame, St. Xavier University and National Louis University. She is married and has one daughter and twin grandsons.