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Extended School Year (ESY) services are special education services provided beyond the normal school year, at no cost to you, to prevent your child from losing critical skills they have already learned.
Extended School Year (ESY) services are specialized instruction or related services that are part of your child's Individualized Education Program (IEP). They take place outside the regular school year, such as during summer break, and are provided by the school district at no cost to the family when the IEP team determines they are necessary for your child to receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
It is important to understand that ESY is not the same as summer school. The goal of ESY is not to teach new skills or help a child catch up to their peers. Instead, its purpose is to help an eligible child maintain skills they have already learned and to prevent them from losing significant ground over a long school break. According to federal regulations (34 CFR 300.106), ESY services must be provided if the IEP team determines they are necessary for your child to receive FAPE.
Not every child with an IEP is eligible for ESY. Eligibility is determined based on individual needs, primarily using data about how the child responds to breaks from school. The services are tailored specifically to the child's needs and are focused only on the IEP goals that are most at risk of being lost.
ESY is most beneficial when a child regresses significantly over school breaks or takes an unusually long time to recoup skills once the school year resumes. It's particularly useful for students with severe disabilities, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, or students working on foundational skills such as reading, math, or communication that are hard-won during the regular school year.
ESY is especially important for skills that are critical to effective functioning and for which there isn't sufficient time to catch up once school resumes. These may include communication skills, self-care skills, social skills, or academic skills that build on each other sequentially.
ESY may not be necessary for students who easily regain skills after a break or for those who do not experience significant regression. If a child's progress is consistent and skills are maintained or quickly recouped after typical breaks, ESY might not provide additional benefits.
Determining the need for ESY should be based on evidence of what occurred during past breaks and whether gaps in learning affect future performance. If data shows your child bounces back quickly after breaks without significant impact on their educational progress, the team may determine ESY is not needed.
ESY services do not have to look like a typical school day. The services are designed to address only the specific IEP goals identified by the team as needing maintenance. The format, length, and frequency of services can vary greatly based on what the child needs.
Some common examples of ESY services include:
Some programs take place in school settings, while others could happen in community settings or through home-based services. The structure and content of ESY depend entirely on what the IEP team determines is necessary for the specific child.
You'll know ESY is effective if your child is retaining critical skills and avoiding significant regression over breaks. When school resumes, your child should be able to return to instruction without needing extensive time to recoup lost skills.
Monitoring should include progress on specific IEP goals addressed during ESY, observation of skill retention over time, and assessments by educators or specialists. The school should provide you with information about how your child performed during ESY and whether targeted skills were maintained.
Continuous communication and reporting should help assure you of the gains or stability in your child's skills. If your child is maintaining skills better than they did before receiving ESY, the services are likely working.
Be vigilant about changes in your child's behavior or performance after breaks. Keep notes about what skills seem to slip and how long it takes for your child to get back on track. This information is valuable data for the IEP team.
If you notice longer adaptation periods or skill regression even with ESY, discuss these observations with your child's IEP team. Also, pay attention to how well your child engages in ESY activities and whether they match the IEP goals discussed.
Watch for ESY services that seem generic rather than tailored to your child's specific needs, or programs that don't clearly connect to the goals in your child's IEP.
The legal foundation for ESY services comes from IDEA and its implementing regulations, specifically 34 CFR 300.106, which requires that ESY services be made available as necessary to provide FAPE. Courts have established that limiting ESY eligibility to only certain categories of students or using inflexible standards violates IDEA.
Research on learning loss supports the concept that students with disabilities may experience more significant regression during extended breaks than their peers without disabilities, and may take longer to recoup lost skills. The regression-recoupment standard has been widely adopted based on this understanding, though federal guidance clarifies that districts cannot use this as the only criterion for eligibility.
Your child's IEP team, of which you are a member, decides if ESY is necessary. The decision must be based on your child's individual needs and data collected throughout the year. There is no single rule for eligibility; different states and districts may have slightly different guidelines, but the decision must always be individualized.
The most common factor the team considers is called 'regression and recoupment.'
Regression: This is the loss of skills or knowledge over a break from school. The team looks at data to see if your child has lost critical skills after previous school breaks (like winter or spring break).
Recoupment: This is the amount of time it takes for your child to relearn those lost skills once school starts again. All students forget some things over a break, but the team is looking to see if it takes your child an unusually long time to get back to where they were before the break started.
While regression-recoupment is a key factor, federal law does not limit the team to only that standard. The IEP team can and should also consider other factors, such as the nature and severity of your child's disability, their rate of progress on their IEP goals, and whether a break in services would prevent them from learning a critical life skill (like communication, toileting, or feeding).
If the school team determines your child is not eligible for ESY and you disagree, you have rights. Start by asking the team to explain what data they used to make their decision. Provide your own data and observations about your child's regression after breaks.
Request that your disagreement and your reasons be documented in writing. You can also request another IEP meeting to discuss ESY specifically.
If you still cannot reach an agreement, you can use your procedural safeguards, which include options like requesting mediation or filing a due process complaint. Contact your state's Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) for guidance on these options.
Understanding the topic is one thing; using it in a meeting is another. SENTINEL·IEP gives you plain-language reference and a companion that follows the conversation in real time — so you can recognize this when it comes up and know what to ask.