Extended school year (ESY)  is special education and/or related services provided to a student beyond the normal school year of a public agency for the purpose of providing a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) in accordance with the student’s IEP, at no cost to the family. When making the decision about ESY, remember to take into consideration the age of the child, any transitional needs and the relative importance of IEP goals at issue.

To make an appropriate decision, progress monitoring and data collection are important. Teachers should progress monitor for ALL goals, collect data after long breaks, if regression is observed, continue to progress monitor for recoupment.

    • Decisions about the need for ESY services are determined by IEP teams, not individuals. The IEP team must look at the totality of the evidence and make a decision based on that.
    • Decisions about ESY must be made INDIVIDUALLY on an annual basis for all students with disabilities.
    • ESY occurs beyond the regular school term at no cost to parents. “Necessary for FAPE" is the only criteria found in regulations to guide decision-making.
    • ESY services are special education and related services, NOT tutoring, summer school, or enrichment. 
    • ESY is not the same thing as summer school; however, ESY services may be provided during the summer as well as during the school year. 
    • A LEA must not state that ESY is only for certain groups of students. 
    • Any services provided as ESY must meet the requirements of FAPE.  
    • If the need for ESY is determined, the IEP Team must identify which goals in the current IEP are being extended or modified.
    • ESY services must be added on the Services page of the IEP as a separate service line.  ESY services will print ONLY on the ESY page of the IEP. 

Any information entered on the ESY page will be included in the printed IEP; all questions will be printed as a list of factors considered.

Extended school year consideration:

The IEP Team should determine if any of the factors below will significantly jeopardize the student's ability to receive some benefit from the student's educational program during the regular school year, if the student does not receive ESY services. ESY services are the individualized extension of specific special education and related services that are provided beyond the normal school year of the public agency, in accordance with the IEP, at no cost to the parents.

If the answer to questions 1-8 is YES, a text box will open and further information should be entered in the  text box.

The final ESY decision cannot be YES unless there is at least one YES response for questions 1-8.

The final ESY decision can be NO even when questions 1-8 contain multiple YES responses.

If the final ESY decision is YES, the IEP must also include at least one service checked for ESY and at least one goal checked for ESY. The IEP team MUST go back and designate at least one goal on the IEP currently being developed as a ESY goal.  When services are addressed, the IEP team MUST identify the service that will need to be provided for ESY.  This MUST be done with at least one service designated with a start and end duration separately from the services that will be provided during the regular school year.