The IEP: Extended School Year (ESY)

What is ESY?

Extended School Year (ESY) Services are special education and/or related services provided beyond the regular school year. A student may be eligible for ESY services if the gains made during the regular school year are likely to be significantly jeopardized without continued educational support. In such cases, extending services beyond the school year may be necessary to maintain the progress achieved.

Step 1: Determining ESY Eligibility

Extended School Year (ESY) eligibility is determined annually for every student with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). This is a collaborative discussion between parents/guardians and the school team as part of a student’s annual review.

Please Note: There is the possibility that an IEP team will either defer an ESY discussion to a later date or hold the ESY eligibility meeting prior to the annual review.

  • Deferred Discussion/Decision: An IEP team that meets early in a school year for an annual review may determine that they do not feel they have enough data at that time to identify if the student will need ESY services during the summer break. The team will need to reconvene to review current data on the IEP before the end of the school year, but ideally before the end of the third quarter.

  • Interim IEP Meeting Prior to Annual Review: As a school system, we ask our school teams to hold the ESY discussion prior to the last day of third quarter. This is to ensure that our school teams and parents have enough time to prepare for the child’s summer ahead.

Prepare for IEP Team Meeting

Prior to the IEP meeting where ESY eligibility is discussed, all members of the IEP team – including parents/guardians – should be prepared to discuss the following:

  • Observations on the impact of long weekends and extended breaks on the child’s learning and routines.
  • Data on the student’s current IEP drawn from the academic year that the IEP has been in effect.
  • Observations on how the previous summer break impacted the student at the start of the current school year.

Meet with IEP Team

The IEP team will meet to review student data and consider factors listed below to determine if the student’s educational programming may be significantly jeopardized during the regular school year without ESY services.

  • Does the student’s IEP include annual goals related to critical life skills? (These are skills that are required across environments to be as independent as possible.)
  • Is there a likely change of substantial regression of the identified critical life skills caused by the normal school break and failure to recover lost skills in a reasonable amount of time?
  • Is the student demonstrating a degree of progress towards the mastery of IEP goals related to critical life skills?
  • Is there a presence of emerging or breakthrough opportunities?
  • Are there significant interfering behaviors?
  • Does the nature and severity of the disability warrant ESY?
  • Are there other special circumstances that require ESY?

Step 2: Setting ESY Goals

Once a child has been deemed eligible for ESY, the IEP team will meet to identify which critical life skills to focus on during the extended school break. Goals will focus on skills from the IEP that will be jeopardized if they are not addressed during ESY.

When selecting skills for ESY, the IEP team should consider:

  • Which critical life skills need to be reinforced to maintain current performance levels?
  • Which skills are most essential for the student to retain?

Step 3: Determining Service Hours and Delivery Options

Service Hours Once the ESY goals and objectives are identified, the IEP team must determine the number of service hours needed to review those skills. Given ESY’s focus on maintaining previously mastered skills and preventing regression, ESY service hours are typically less than those provided during the regular school year. The IEP team will also identify the most appropriate and least restrictive ESY setting for the student during the summer break.

Continuum of Service Delivery Options HCPSS offers a variety of ESY programs to meet the specific needs of students receiving special education services over the summer. These programs align with the HCPSS continuum of services, and most mirror the student’s school year program to ensure continuity of support. School team members will help ensure the selected ESY program accurately reflects the student’s ESY services, current placement, and level of support.

For a list of delivery options visit https://www.hcpss.org/special-education/extended-school-year/

Learn more about Extended School Year in HCPSS - Navigating Together: A Guide for Families