The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in Science. The lowest is 30% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Bennion Jr High
Bennion Jr High serves a middle-school grade span and sits within the Granite District in Taylorsville, a mid-sized suburban city in the Salt Lake Valley. The school draws from a community that is a mix of single-family subdivisions and apartment complexes, with commercial corridors like Redwood Road defining the area rather than a traditional downtown. Taylorsville incorporated roughly two decades ago, in part because residents wanted more local control over development; the city is now engaged in commercial district revitalization, a mobility project along Redwood Road, and planning for a Bus Rapid Transit line. Parents considering this school are looking at a suburb in motion, not a static bedroom community.
The student body tilts majority white, with a meaningful Hispanic presence and smaller shares of students who are Pacific Islander, Black, Asian, multiracial, or Native American. About two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a substantial share that places the school in the middle range for economic need among Utah schools. The school serves grades six through nine; ninth grade enrollment is listed as zero, which may reflect a data alignment issue or that ninth graders are served at a different site within the district, so a family with a rising ninth grader should confirm the actual grade configuration directly with the school.
On state assessments, Bennion Jr High’s results are mixed and give a parent a clear point to explore. In English language arts, the proportion of students scoring proficient or above sits a little above the midpoint when compared with other schools across the county. In mathematics, the proficiency rate is a fair bit lower than the ELA figure, which is a common pattern nationally but the gap here is wide enough that a family focused on strong math preparation may want to ask the school about specific supports and instructional approaches. Science proficiency falls between the two, closer to the ELA result. When all tested subjects are averaged together, the school lands just above the midpoint among the county’s schools. These are not breakthrough numbers, but they are not out of line with what many mid-size suburban junior highs in the region post.
The data does not include a breakdown for students with disabilities or English learners, so the school’s performance with those groups is unknown for the public. Similarly, chronic absenteeism figures are absent, and no graduation rate applies because the school does not serve the high school grades where that metric is reported. These are gaps a parent would need to fill by talking to the school or the district.
Granite District itself is a large, geographically sprawling system that covers parts of Salt Lake City and multiple suburbs. Publicly reported district-level referenda and bond activity in recent years are not detailed in the available material, so the district’s financial trajectory and any recent investments in facilities or programs at Bennion are not part of this account. A parent may want to check with the district or the school’s administration about recent capital improvements, program additions, or staffing changes.
What a family gets at Bennion Jr High is a sizable suburban school in a city that is actively working on its infrastructure and commercial identity, a student population that is economically diverse but not deeply impoverished, and academic results that fall in a middle band for the region with a notable dip in math. For a parent weighing options, the school likely fits a family that values a conventional large junior high environment, is comfortable with the suburban Taylorsville setting, and wants to be engaged on the math side to ensure their child is getting the support needed.
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