The "Chicago Sun-Times" ranked Benet one of the top ten high schools in the Chicago area in 2003, based on graduate enrollment rates at four-year colleges and test scores over a four-year period. In 1999 Benet was also one of two high schools in DuPage County, and 100 high schools nationwide, featured as an "Outstanding American High School" by "U.S. News & World Report". The study, conducted in conjunction with the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, identified schools "where students progress steadily toward high academic standards and where every student matters." Benet has credited the school's academic success to Rev. Ronald Rigovsky, who served as principal for 23 years and as president from 1987 to 1992. During his tenure, said the "Chicago Tribune", Rigovsky developed the school into "one of the highest scoring and most scholastically respected high schools in the Chicago area."