Pioneer Special Schools serves Portland’s special-education students, kindergarten to 21 years old, who are unable to be successful in less restrictive school placements. With three 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 ameliorate 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.

Dear PPS Middle School Families,

We apologize for the confusion many students and families are feeling with regard to middle school schedules and expectations for distance learning instruction. We have worked with educators and administrators throughout this week to come to a more clear understanding related to middle school learning experience, and want to make sure you know what to expect as well.

Dear PPS Parents and Guardians,

As we welcome students back to the new school year, an important step for teachers is to understand your student’s most essential learning needs. To collect this valuable information, students will take Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments. The MAP assessment is a low stakes test – this means that the results are not used for grading students or for school accountability purposes. 

Dear PPS Families,

As the 2020-21 school year gets under way, we are excited to share news about school meals. Through our partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture, we will be able to provide school meals for all students at no cost at this time. 

Dear PPS Families,

As we shift from the soft start into ongoing virtual learning, families have shared questions about the middle grades schedules. We know you are essential partners in student learning, and we want to ensure you have answers to these commonly asked questions in one place. In case you are interested in state guidance behind the PPS schedules, we have linked information below for your reference.