Extended School Year (ESY)
Extended School Year (ESY) services are educational services provided for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) during the summer. ESY is specifically designed to enable the maintenance of skills students acquire during the regular school year and facilitate continued progress on IEPs in the coming year.
ESY services are available at no cost to families.
Download the Empowering Parents Extended School Year Presentation (PDF).
Step 1 — Determining ESY Eligibility
Eligibility for ESY is determined annually through a collaboration between parents/guardians and the IEP team at the child’s school. A number of factors, including the child’s age, progress toward critical life skills, and likelihood of regression, are considered in making this determination.Prepare for IEP Team Meeting
In preparation for the meeting with the IEP team, parents/guardians are encouraged to think about and be prepared to discuss:- The impact of weekends and extended school breaks on their child’s learning and routines
- Family plans (vacations, family commitments, camps, activities, work) for the summer that may impact ESY services programming
- Pick up/drop off location if different than the regular school year
- Pertinent health information (food allergies, medication, etc.)
Meet with IEP Team
Parents will meet with members of the IEP team to review student data and discuss the following questions.- Does the student’s IEP include annual goals related to critical life skills, such feeding, mobility, communication, dressing, self-help, social/emotional written language, reading, and math?
- Are the skills required across a number of current and future environments?
- Can the student perform skills independently or do they require adult assistance?
- Is there a likely chance of regression without ESY?
- Is the student demonstrating progress toward the achievement of IEP goals related to critical life skills?
- Does the student possess emerging skills or have breakthrough opportunities available?
- Are there significant interfering behaviors?
- Does the nature and severity of the disability warrant ESY services?
- Are there any other special circumstances that require ESY?
Step 2 — Setting ESY Goals
Once a child has been deemed eligible for ESY, parents and the IEP team meet to identify goals that will be addressed during ESY. Goals will focus on skills from the IEP that will significantly regress if they are not addressed during ESY.Step 3 — Determining Service Delivery Options and Timeline
Once ESY goals have been identified, the IEP team will determine the amount of time required and best service delivery option for addressing the ESY goals. The IEP team will consider the student’s current services and seek to identify complementary service delivery options.
Below is a list of ESY service delivery options.*
- ESY Regional Early Childhood Center (RECC)
- ESY Primary Learner and Upper Learner
- ESY Academic Intervention – Elementary School Programs
- ESY Academic – Emotional Disabilities Regional Elementary School
- ESY Social Opportunities and Relationships (S.O.A.R.) Elementary
- ESY Social Opportunities and Relationships (S.O.A.R.) Middle School
- Regional Academic Life Skills (ALS)
- Any student who currently attends a regional ALS program (elementary, middle, or high school) and is eligible for ESY services will receive ESY services at the designated ESY location according to their assigned regional ALS location. The ESY regional ALS locations may or may not be the same as the assigned regional ALS location during the school year. The ESY services will be based on individual needs as determined by the IEP team.
- ESY Academic Life Skills (ALS) Regional – Elementary School Programs
- ESY Academic Intervention – Middle School Programs
- ESY Academic Life Skills Regional – Middle School Programs
- ESY Academic – Emotional Disabilities Regional Middle School
- ESY High School
- ESY Work Study
- ESY Cedar Lane School Program
- ESY Homewood Center
- ESY Bridge Services
- When the IEP team determines, based on data, that a student requires additional services beyond those provided during the typical ESY time period, it can recommend and approve customized options to supplement other summer services. These customized options are referred to as bridge services, as they “bridge” the time period between the end of the structured ESY summer options and the beginning of the school year. The IEP team determines which goal(s) /objective(s) need to be addressed for these bridge services. These services are based on the unique, individualized needs of the student. Bridge services are only considered if the students goals/objectives and services cannot be met through existing ESY service options.
*Some students require services different from/in addition to general ESY Programming. This is determined at the ESY IEP team meeting on a case-by-case basis. Data is needed to support this determination.
Contact Us
For more information, contact Janice Yetter (janice_yetter@hcpss.org) or Marcella Randall (marcella_randall@hcpss.org).