IEP Process

Extended School Year

When the IEP is developed initially or reviewed annually, the IEP team must consider the need for ESY services for children with disabilities. ESY services are different than general education summer school. ESY may or may not be provided in conjunction with the general education summer school. ESY may be needed by a student even though summer school is not offered for general education children. In fact, for certain students, services over winter or spring breaks may be needed. The reason for these services is to ensure the provision of a FAPE so that the student can make progress toward the goals specified on the student’s IEP and to prevent regression, which would impede such progress.

The need for ESY is to be decided individually. Therefore, a district must not have a policy that no ESY services will be provided, that they are only available to a certain group or age of students, or that services are only provided for a set amount of time or a specified number of days. Personnel providing ESY services should meet the same requirements that apply to personnel providing the same types of services as a part of a regular school program.

If the team decides to defer the decision regarding ESY eligibility, the deferred date can be no later than the end date of the current school year. It is only necessary to defer to a later date if the team does not have the information needed to determine eligibility for ESY services.

When determining ESY eligibility, the team will address the following questions:

1. Significant regression is likely to occur in critical life skills and cannot be recouped within a reasonable amount of time without extended school year services.


2. The likelihood that the student is at a crucial stage in the development of a critical life skill, and that a lapse in service would substantially jeopardize the student's chances of learning that skill?


3. The nature or severity of the student's disability is such that the student would be unlikely to benefit from his or her education without the provision of extended school year services.


4. Are there any special circumstances, such as a large number of absences during the school year, that are relevant to consideration of ESY?

To continue to the next step in the IEP Process: Creating Draft and Final IEPs in Easy IEP, click Next below.