Pioneer Special Schools serves Portland’s special-education students, kindergarten to 12th grade, who are unable to be successful in less restrictive school placements. With two school sites, the program helps students with social/emotional needs, fragile mental health, developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, life skills, or GED preparation needs or who require vocational training and community transition services.

Specially designed instruction and related services are provided to meet each student's individual needs. School wide positive behavioral supports and daily social skills lessons in the classroom provide the structure and framework by which we address pro-social school skills and work with students and families to deter negative behaviors which impede their ability to access less restrictive educational environments.

Delivery of services in the classroom is provided by a certified teacher and two para-educators, as well as a Masters level therapist at least half time to address mental health issues. Behavior coaches are available to assist with positive reinforcement of pro-social behavior and to facilitate the de-escalation of students who have become a danger to themselves or others. Related services may include professionals such as a speech-language pathologist, educational assistants, school psychologist, adapted physical education teacher, and occupational therapist.

On Thursday, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) released graduation rates for the 2020-21 school year, with 84.4% of Portland Public Schools  students earning a high school diploma within four years, an impressive result and a steady increase for the 12th year in a row.

Dear Community,

We are so pleased to inform you that your school (see chart below) will return to in-person classes early next week. We realize that closing the campus and moving to temporary distance learning created challenges for families, but the dramatic rise in absences of staff and students fueled by the omicron variant of COVID-19 made it too difficult to keep the campus open safely.

Dear PPS Community,

On Monday, January 31, Portland Public Schools teachers and staff will have a day to collaborate and plan for the start of the second semester, with no classes held for students on that day. This comes after the PPS Board of Education, at a special meeting on Tuesday, unanimously voted to turn January 31 into a staff collaboration and planning day for school-based staff, creating an opportunity for school staff to work on campus-specific school climate plans and instructional practices to support the diverse needs of our students. 

The recent surge in cases due to the Omicron variant, compounded by the unrelenting and continued stress from this pandemic, has impacted all of us as individuals and as a collective society. Every sector continues to face challenges, and Portland Public Schools (PPS) is no exception. We know firsthand that navigating this pandemic is taxing, especially for our students who desperately need and deserve consistency, stability and access to in-person learning experiences.