Extended School Year

Extended School Year (ESY) is a term used to describe school programming that occurs during school breaks, typically during the summer. During the annual IEP meeting, the team determines if ESY is necessary for the student to receive FAPE. To qualify for ESY, a student must meet at least one of three possible criteria:

Regression/Recoupment
Self-Sufficiency
Unique Need

Because efforts are made to meet students' needs during the school year, ESY is the exception, not the rule. Typically, most students will not be entitled to ESY following IEP team consideration.

Extended School Year (ESY) Guidance

ESY Decision Flowchart.pdf

IEP teams should refer to this flowchart when considering eligibility for ESY services. Examples of circumstances that may result in eligibility for ESY services are included on the page below.

Eligibility Consideration

ESY Documentation Worksheet.pdf

Regression/Recoupment

Significant regression of a skill or acquired knowledge from student’s level of performance on IEP goal that requires more than the length of the break in instruction to recoup. The IEP team must answer the question: Has there been (or is there potential for) significant regression during periods of interruption that need to be recouped?

In applying this standard, IEP teams should consider the following:

ESY may not be limited to children who have actually experienced serious regression, but also include those with a serious potential for regression
The information considered may not be limited to empirical data, but must encompass all relevant data
Consideration must be given to whether the child’s disability is such that he or she cannot reasonably suffer a significant regression

Sources of convergent data that should be examined include (but are not limited to):

Progress monitoring data on IEP goals
Anecdotal data
Data provided by parents
Reports from outside agencies and professionals
Grades or report cards
Interviews
Past ESY data

Self-Sufficiency

The functional skills necessary for the student to achieve a reasonable degree of personal independence, as typically identified in the annual IEP goals for a student requiring a functional/adaptive curriculum. To attain self-sufficiency, a student must maintain skills consistent with the student's IEP goals in any of these skill areas:

Functional academic competency, including: basic reading, writing, concepts of time and money, and numerical or temporal relationships
Basic communication
Physical mobility
Basic self-help, including: toileting, eating/feeding, and dressing
Personal hygiene
Development of stable relationships with peers and adults
Impulse control
Muscular control

Sources of convergent data that should be examined include (but are not limited to):

Progress monitoring data for IEP goals
Test scores
Informal classroom observations
Informal interviews

Unique Needs

Unique needs refer to situations where failure to provide a service beyond the normal school year will result in permanently losing, or severely limiting, the student’s capacity and potential to acquire skills to benefit from FAPE.

Examples of some (not all) circumstances that may constitute a unique need:

A skill needs to be mastered immediately
If the student does not master the skill immediately, the degree of mastery is likely to be permanently reduced
The child is at a critical stage of development where there is a window of opportunity that will be lost if services are not provided
Changes in a student’s medical, physical, or sensory status make it possible to predict an accelerated rate of learning during the ESY program
Continuous or year-round programming is an integral part of the intervention methodology

Sources of convergent data that should be examined include (but are not limited to):

Medical records
Research or development standards
Interviews with parents, teachers, and service providers

Documentation

Step #1: On the "Services" page under the ESY heading, document the team's eligibility determination

A determination must be documented, even if that determination is that the IEP team must collect additional data ("More Data Needed") in order to decide if the student is eligible for ESY services. If the IEP indicates "More Data Needed," it must be amended/updated to indicate a clear "Yes" or "No" before the summer. Typically in January and February, case managers are prompted to work with IEP teams to make determinations regarding "More Data Needed" cases.

Step #2: FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR ESY, RETURN TO IEP GOAL PAGE, CHECK THE ESY BOX NEXT TO THE GOAL(S) and Objectives STUDENT IS ELIGIBLE FOR ESY Services

Once you select the goal(s) and objectives, this will be auto-populated into the Extended School Year form.

Step #3: For students who are eligible for ESY, identify what ESY services the student is eligible for.

Click on the Blue Add button. Complete all the boxes to reflect the service the student qualifies for ESY services. If the student qualifies for more than one area of ESY service, you will need repeat this process by clicking the blue add button again.

Step #4: FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR ESY, DESCRIBE WHY THE STUDENT IS ELIGIBLE.

1.Click on the blue link in SpEd Forms that says "ESY Services." This link will bring you to the Extended School Year form.

2.On the Extended School Year form, check the relevant boxes and briefly describe the team's rationale for eligibility. For example, in the area of Regression/Recoupment, a rationale might be: "Convergent anecdotal and progress monitoring data indicate that Sam's skills in the area of reading fluency regressed significantly over winter break and it took greater than the length of winter break to recoup previously demonstrated proficiency in this area."

Step #5: Identify the services that will be provided

In SpEd Forms, the services on the separate ESY form will sync onto the Services page of the main IEP form, and vice versa. The IEP goal(s) and objectives selected for ESY on the IEP Goal Page will sync onto the Extended School Year form.

Service minutes for ESY should only reflect the area(s) of educational need/annual IEP goals/objectives where the student demonstrates eligibility for ESY, not necessarily what they will be receiving during ESY programming.

For example, imagine a student who has an annual IEP goal in the area of reading, and in this area she has demonstrated regression/recoupment. She attends ESY programming that is 180 minutes long and includes an hour of reading, an hour of math, and an hour of social skills. In this situation, you would write 180 ESY minutes for reading, not the other areas, because reading is the student's IEP goal and the area where she has demonstrated a need for ESY.

Step #6: if applicable, identify paraprofessional support

Step #7: If applicable, special transportation

Step #8: briefly describE the student's ESY program

Minnie will attend ESY 3 days per week for 120 minutes to maintain reading fluency skills as related to goal 2 on the attached IEP during the summer break. Services from a special education teacher will be provided as indicated above. *Use this section to describe the Service Delivery Model for the ESY Services.

Step #9: ESY determination information

If "Yes "at IEP Meeting: All ESY documentation must be sent with the IEP and Prior Written Notice to the parents. This documentation should be finalized in SpEd Forms and a copy placed in the file.

If "More Data Needed" at IEP Meeting: Schedule a follow up IEP meeting to review additional data and make an ESY determination. If Yes, update and amend the IEP to indicate ESY needs. If No, update and amend the IEP to indicate "No ESY Needed". After IEP has been amended, send home the amended IEP, Prior Written Notice, and if applicable, ESY Form to parents. This documentation should be finalized in SpEd Forms and a copy placed in the file.

Work with your Due Process Specialist to determine how and when specific details of ESY programming and services will be communicated with families.

Service Delivery Models for ESY

The ESY services delivered are to be designed to meet the individual student’s needs in achieving critical goals. As such, individual students may require ESY services delivered using different methods. The IEP team will choose the appropriate delivery model. Examples of ESY delivery models are described below.

Skill Maintenance Activities

These are written descriptions of activities for parents or other caregivers to provide for the student on a regular basis over the summer break. The activities will be written by the student’s current school year providers.

Examples might include: parent directed activities to involve the student in when grocery shopping, guidelines for parents to follow when reading to the student, suggestions of community activities, and other guidelines for parents to assure necessary skill practice.

Skill Maintenance Packets/Kits

These are school materials prepared and organized for the parents or caregivers to use on a regular basis over the summer break. The materials will be prepared with directions written by the student’s current school year service providers.

Examples might include: worksheets, flashcards, books, computer software, writing assignments, reading assignments, fine motor activities, and/or social skill activities.

Licensed Staff Phone Consultation

This service would typically be in addition to use of skill maintenance activities and/or packets. A licensed special education provider would be available for phone consultation regarding use of the activities or packets at specifically scheduled intervals throughout the summer break. Licensed staff phone consultation could be available to the parent, caregiver, or to some community agency or facility working with that student.

Licensed Staff In-Person Consultation

This service would involve planned and pre-scheduled consultation sessions provided to parents, caregivers, or a community facility or agency. The licensed special education provider would schedule consultation sessions throughout the summer to assist parents and caregivers in providing skill practice opportunities to the student.

Examples might include: arrangements for summer rec. staff to schedule consultation with a DAPE teacher when new activities are planned.

School-Based Services

The IEP team can determine that ESY services need to be delivered directly to students in designated schools. The ESY student is transported to the designated school by the school district. The student will attend the school for a specified number of hours each week and be instructed in those goal areas designated by the IEP team. School-based services would be required when consultation, work packets, and regular practice of skills will not be sufficient to allow the student to receive an appropriate education.

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