Extended School Year (ESY), or special education services beyond the usual school year, came about because of IDEA. Students who have IEPs or who qualify under Section 504 have to be considered for ESY services. For this blog post, we will focus on those with IEPs.
Each student with a disability is entitled to an individualized education designed around their needs. The student’s IEP team is required to consider, as appropriate, whether a student needs ESY in order to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). This determination must be made on an individualized basis and must be determined by the entire IEP team. Sometimes a District Administrator will tell a student’s family they will not discuss ESY because their child does not qualify or “because I said so.” This is not 1) individualized or 2) a team decision.
What are the standards for ESY?
No single criterion can be used as the sole qualifying factor. For example, we have heard districts say, “Well, we did a regression/recoupment analysis, and we are denying ESY.” This standard can be part of what a district and IEP team looks at when determining ESY, but it is also only one piece of what is intended to be a multifaceted inquiry.
- Regression and recoupment. Regression is a decline in knowledge and skills that can result when a child’s education is interrupted, and recoupment is how long it takes the student to regain the prior functioning level. Appropriate questions for this standard include: Will the benefits the student gained during the regular school year be significantly jeopardized if the student does not receive an educational program during the summer? Will the student need services in the summer to secure the minimum benefits of a free appropriate public education in the fall?
Emerging skills and breakthrough opportunities. If the student is in a key stage of developing a skill that has significant potential for increasing self-sufficiency, and if the current level of acquisition will be lost without school services over the summer, then ESY is warranted.- Nature and severity of the child’s disability. ESY consideration must include all disability categories. Nature and severity is a significant factor, as children with more severe disabilities are more likely to have significant regression and recoupment will likely take longer.
- Notice and timing. We are seeing more districts putting parents off, saying they (the district) will discuss ESY with them in late May or early June. The district is required to have the IEP team meet and make a decision early enough in the school year that the family has time to exercise their right to administrative review or to appeal in a timely fashion (meaning before their child misses summer school). ESY should be considered at each annual IEP review meeting. The district is required to document both the ESY discussion and the decision reached at each meeting.
- Content and duration of services. Some ESY services may extend over the entire summer. Other services may only call for periodic contact with professionals or assist parents who themselves provide the instruction or reinforcement for their children. Districts are not allowed to limit the duration of summer programs; they must be individualized, even to “. . . the number of weeks, days per week, and hours per day that each student receiving ESY should be provided” (per the Reusch v. Fountain decision).
- Parent’s ability to provide educational structure at home. If a student’s parent can provide proper structure at home, regression and recoupment may be less severe and ESY may not be necessary.
As parents, we understand. As advocates, we can help.