GCPA: Online School for Students in Special Education

How Special Education Works at GCPA

GCPA’s Special Education program supports students who are eligible through an incoming IEP/ISP, an evaluation report, or a 504 plan. Students with disabilities will be provided the K12 curriculum with accommodations as determined by the school team and parent/guardian.

Special Education teachers will work with students to provide the program as written in the student’s Individual Special Education Plan (ISEP), which is developed by GCPA staff and the parent/guardian. The focus of the Special Education program is to provide appropriate academic support to close the gap between where a student is currently achieving and meeting grade-level standards.

For GCPA students who live in Arizona, additional services or therapies may be covered by the Arizona ESA. GCPA will provide the student’s guardian with an ESA list of approved providers for these services.

Questions about Special Education Services should be directed to Meghan Griffin, Special Education Administrator, meggriffin@k12.com.

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A Curriculum to Help Support Any Student’s Special Needs

GCPA is a K12-powered school, and the K12 curriculum supports our online special education services and programs. It combines digital learning and opportunities for offline work in addition to helping students build meaningful connections with their teachers and peers.

The curriculum and class schedule are flexible, enabling students to work at their own pace and structure their day as needed for optimal learning. This method can help accommodate specific circumstances like appointments for students who need special education support.

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Supportive & Qualified Teachers

Our certified teachers help students identify and target their strengths while also letting them explore and find academic approaches that work for them. They’re there to provide support in areas where students may need more guidance and build tailored approaches where necessary to help every student achieve their goals.

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Child Find

Child Find refers to the fact that under federal law, a state must have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all children with disabilities who may need special education services are found and evaluated.

GCPA will communicate with the resident district to identify, locate, and evaluate all enrolled children who may have disabilities. Disability, as stated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), includes such conditions as hearing, visual, speech, or language impairment, specific learning disability, emotional disturbance, cognitive disability, other health or physical impairment, autism, and traumatic brain injury.

In order to comply with the Child Find requirements, GCPA will help ensure that all GCPA students with disabilities—regardless of the severity of their disability, who are in need of special education and related services—are identified, located, and evaluated by their resident districts, including students with disabilities who are homeless or students who are wards of the state.

Parent/guardian permission and involvement is a vital piece of the process. Once a student has been identified as having a “suspected disability” or identified as having a disability by their resident district, GCPA will ask the student or the student’s parent/guardian for information about the child such as:

• How has the suspected disability or identified disability hindered the student’s learning?
• What has been done, educationally, to intervene and correct the student’s emerging learning deficits?
• What educational or medical information relative to the suspected disability or identified disability is available to be shared with the school?

This information may also be obtained from the student’s present or former teachers, therapists, doctors, or from other agencies that have information about the student.

All information collected will be held in strict confidence and released to others only with parental permission or as allowed by law. In keeping with this confidence, GCPA will keep a record of all persons who review confidential information. In accordance with state regulations, parents have the right to review their child’s records.

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Special Education (IEP) or Service Agreements (504 Plans)

Once the evaluation process is completed by the student’s resident district and eligibility has been determined, the resident district may offer an Individual Service Plan (ISP) or 504 Plan. At this point, GCPA will complete an individualized Special Education plan (ISEP) for the student, indicating the Special Education program and accommodations that will be provided. The ISEP will be developed in collaboration with the student’s parent/guardian.

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Request for Parent/Guardian Interpreter Services or Disability Accommodations

Professional interpreter services may be requested at any time for parents/guardians of students with disabilities by contacting Meghan Griffin at meggriffin@k12.com.

Additionally, if any parent/guardian has a disability or other limitation that would impact their ability to participate fully in their child’s educational planning process, GCPA would be happy to discuss accommodations that may be available to maximize the parent/guardian’s participation. Individuals seeking to discuss accommodations for this reason may contact Meghan Griffin at meggriffin@k12.com.

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Privacy & Confidentiality

GCPA follows protocols to ensure students’ records remain confidential both within its central office and across school systems and databases.

Frequently Asked Questions