Top 4 Best Special Needs Schools in Prior Lake, Minnesota (2026)

Edgewood School is the early learning center for Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, bringing Early Childhood Family Education, Early Childhood Special Education, early childhood screening, and Circle of Friends Preschool and PreKindergarten under one roof. Circle of Friends offers preschool classes for 3-year-olds and PreKindergarten for 4-year-olds, including a nature-based PreKindergarten option. The program holds a Four-Star Parent Aware rating, the highest available in Minnesota. Teachers use the core elements of the Creative Curriculum alongside Minnesota's Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, building units of inquiry around children's interests in literacy, math, science, motor skills, and social development. We use Second Step to build self-regulation and social-emotional skills, and the Pyramid Model framework for positive behavior support. Our Early Childhood Special Education program serves young children with disabilities, and screening is open to all children starting at age 3. Our mission is for young children of all abilities to grow and experience success with their parents as partners in learning.

• Public early learning center
• Nature-based PreK
• Early childhood special education
• Public school

Hidden Oaks Middle School opened in 1989 and serves grades 6 to 8 in Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, alongside Twin Oaks Middle School. Like all district schools, we follow the E-STEM model, which ties environmental education to science, technology, engineering and math through projects and field experiences. Students who finished fifth grade at La ola del lago can continue Spanish immersion here, taking social studies and Spanish language arts in Spanish in grades 6, 7 and 8. Every student has the chance to join band or choir, and all 8th graders can travel to Washington, D.C. in the fall. Leadership groups, spirit days and Community Education youth programs fill out the year. Every district building, ours included, has licensed special education teachers who provide intervention supports, evaluations and special education instruction; district-wide settings for students who need more specialized programs are based at other schools. A student services team supports students, PBIS sets behavior expectations, and the school serves breakfast and lunch with district transportation available.

• Public middle school
• E-STEM
• Spanish immersion continuation
• Public school

Jeffers Pond Elementary opened in 2006 and serves kindergarten through fifth grade for Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, the first district in Minnesota where every school is an E-STEM school. Our campus has 31 outdoor learning spaces, including a Hammock Forest we built with the City of Prior Lake in 2022, and each spring the whole school spends a full E-STEM day learning outdoors. Some of the district's Circle of Friends nature-based preschool classes also meet in our building. We use the Responsive Classroom approach, with morning meetings, academic choice and guided discovery, and we teach the social skills of JP C.A.R.E.S.: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control. A school social worker supports students and families, a dean of students helps with attendance and behavior, and we offer advanced learning and special education services. Fourth and fifth graders can sing in our choir and join student leadership groups. Families take part through our PTC, Dads of Great Students (D.O.G.S.) and Unified programs, and Kids Company and Community Education provide before and after-school options.

• Public elementary school (K-5)
• E-STEM
• Outdoor learning
• Responsive Classroom

Choice-based learning gives children room to explore their interests in Kids' Company. We use hands-on play connected with the district's environmental education, science, technology, engineering and mathematics approach. Children participate in activities that support social, emotional, physical and thinking skills while learning with other children. Program coordinators and a student support specialist form part of our team, and staff work within each elementary school's community to provide a safe, inclusive setting. We provide this care through Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools' Community Education Services for children from age 3 through fifth grade. Kids' Company operates in all district elementary schools, with before- and after-school care and full-day programming on most school release days, including summer. The arrangement gives families care around the regular school day and on many of the days when school is out. Families can register for the program and manage their account through our program system, choosing the care arrangement while children choose activities within it.

• After school program
• Learning differences
• Twice-exceptional
• Private school