Dear Horned Frogs,
One of the things I love most about TCU is the difference we’re making in our community every day.
I recently spent time with KinderFrogs School and Starpoint School – two incredible and unique laboratory schools for children with special needs and disabilities based on our campus and a part of the TCU College of Education. Both schools tremendously impact the children and families they serve and, by extension, our community as a whole.
In fact, KinderFrogs was created in 2000 in response to an appeal from the Fort Worth community and a group of dedicated parents who saw a need. Today, KinderFrogs remains Tarrant County’s only early-intervention educational program for children ages 18 months to six years with Down syndrome and other developmental delays.
Educating Future Educators
With 7.3 million disabled students in the U.S. making up 15% of national public school enrollment during the 2021-22 school year, it is critical that all teachers are trained to work with students with disabilities.
Starpoint School founders M.J. and Alice Neeley understood this nearly 60 years ago when they envisioned a school where their grandson, who struggled academically, would thrive. The Neeleys believed that all teachers should be trained to help children with special needs. In 1966, Mr. and Mrs. Neeley initiated a laboratory school on the TCU Campus, Starpoint School, for that purpose.
Today, both KinderFrogs and Starpoint School provide spaces for TCU education majors to experience and receive hands-on classroom training with children with disabilities. The best practices they learn can ultimately be shared with communities across the globe. TCU is one of the few schools in the country with two Special Education laboratory schools.
TCU’s history is full of examples of innovation, big ideas and problem-solving for the greater good. This both inspires and excites me as we look ahead to the next 150 years.
Thank you to all the educators at TCU and in our community who dedicate their lives to improving the lives of children. I’m so proud of the TCU College of Education, KinderFrogs and Starpoint School.
Lead On!
Daniel W. Pullin
President
