Child Find & Special Education

PTAA Charter schools are public schools of choice: parents select the school their child attends. Families and community members are welcomed in charter schools and are treated as partners in their child's education.

As public schools, charter schools are required to enroll and serve students with disabilities in the same manner as traditional public schools. Because charter schools are designed to offer innovative educational strategies, they are uniquely situated to provide individualized support to meet the needs of students with disabilities and other unique challenges.

Texas Transition and Employment Guide

Child Find

Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy ensures that all children residing within the PTAA boundaries who have disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, and who are in need of special education and related services are identified, located, and evaluated. This requirement applies to:

  1. Homeless children;
  2. Children who are wards of the state;
  3. Children attending our schools;
  4. Highly mobile children (including migrant children); and
  5. Children who are suspected of being in need of special education, but who are advancing from grade to grade.

20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3)(A); 34 CFR 300.111(a)(1)(i), (c).  

Special Education

Students with physical or mental disabilities may face academic hurdles for a variety of reasons, but parents can take advantage of federal laws to help ensure their children's special needs are met. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), the federal special education statue, ensures that a student found to be eligible for special education services receives an individual education plan (IEP) determined by an Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) Committee. The student shall be provided a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). 

Providing Assistance to Students Who Have Learning Difficulties or Need Special Education Services (required statement)

If a student is experiencing learning difficulties, the parent may contact [Jennifer Cayce, Special Education Coordinator, 15720 Hillcrest Rd Dallas TX, 469-405-8967 to learn about Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy’s overall general education referral or screening system for support services. This system links students to a variety of support options, including referral for a special education evaluation. Students having difficulty in the regular classroom should be considered for tutorial, compensatory, and other academic or behavior support services that are available to all students, including a process based on Response to Intervention (“RtI”). The implementation of RtI has the potential to have a positive impact on Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy’s ability to meet the needs of all struggling students.

At any time, a parent is entitled to request an evaluation for special education services by presenting a written request to Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy, Attn: Jennifer Cayce, Special Education Coordinator, 15720 Hillcrest Rd Dallas TX, 469-405-8967 or an administrative employee.