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Intermediate School District 917

Purposeful. Personalized. Partners.

Extended School Year

Extended School Year

ESY Determination Flowchart Eligibility Documenting the Eligibility Decision Frequently Asked Questions

Nuts & Bolts for Esy:

  1. Must be reviewed and considered annually.

  2. Must be based on specific qualification criteria and individual student needs.

  3. Must document the type of service, frequency, minutes, duration, and setting. Other considerations: transportation, paraprofessional support, related services.

  4. Must document in the Prior Written Notice (PWN) that the team considered ESY and the determiation that was made.

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ESY Determination Flowchart

Eligibility

the "why" of esy

According to Minnesota Rule (0525.0755), school districts are required to provide extended school year (ESY) services to a pupil if the IEP team determines the services are necessary during a break in instruction in order to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE). During the annual IEP meeting, the team determines if a student qualifies for ESY. If the team is not able to determine ESY qualification at the annual IEP meeting, the team must select "more data needed" and then meet again to amend the IEP when it has been determined that the student would qualify for ESY.

Students must qualify for ESY in one of three areas:

  1. Regression/Recoupment

  2. Self-Sufficiency

  3. Unique Needs

  • The team must have sufficient data collected that indicates that the student has a significant regression of a skill or acquired knowledge from the student's level of performance on an annual goal that requires more than the length of the break in instruction to recoup.

    Teams should be mindful to collect data before and after breaks in the school calendar and identify the ongoing data collection.

  • The team must determine that the student needs continuous instruction in functional skills necessary for the student to achieve a reasonable degree of independence, as typically identified in the annual IEP goals for a pupil requiring a functional/adaptive curriculum. There must be clear documentation indicating significant delays in "basic skills" as compared to same-age peers.

    The student, who is in a functional curriculum (Readtopia, ULS, etc.), has the following skills identified as goals in their IEP:

    • Functional academic competency, including: basic reading, writing, concepts of time and money, and numerical or temporal relationships

    • Basic communication

    • Physical mobility

    • Basic self-help, including: toileting, eating/feeding, and dressing

    • Personal hygience

    • Development of stable relationships with peers and adults

    • Impulse control

    • Muscular control

  • Unique needs refer to situations where failure to provide a service beyond the normal school year will result in permanently losing, or severely limiting, the student's capacity and potential to acquire skills to benefit from FAPE.

    Examples of some (not all) circumstances that may constitute a unique need:

    • A skill needs to be mastered immediately

    • If the student does not master the skill immediately, the degree of mastery is likely to be permanently reduced

    • The child is at a critical stage of development where there is a window of opportunity that will be lost if services are not provided

    • Changes in a student's medical, physical, or sensory status make it possible to predict an accelerated rate of learning during the ESY program

    • Continuous or year-round programming is an integral part of the intervention methodolgy

Possible data sources to examine

  • Rate of progress on IEP goals

  • Observation of the student's regression and recoupment over the summer and/or tendency to regress over extended breaks in instruction

  • Classroom observations

  • District test scores

  • Interviews with parents, teachers, and service providers

Documenting the Eligibility Decision

Document the Team's Decision on the IEP 'Services' Page

A determination must be documented in order to decide if a student is eligible for ESY services. Options for Extended School Year are: yes, no, more data needed. If the IEP indicates "More Data Needed", it must be amended/updated to indicate a clear "Yes" or "No" before the summer. 

Document the Team's Rationale in a PWN

The proposal for ESY services must be documented in a Prior Written Notice (PWN). Parents must receive notice whenever the district proposes or refuses action. Both the action proposed or refused (question 1) and the explanation (question 2) need to be included in the PWN when ESY services are being proposed. See examples below regarding how you might answer questions 1 and 2 in the PWN:

Regression/Recoupment Example:

  1. Action(s) proposed or refused: "Johnny will receive ESY services in the area of reading for 1 hour 4 times per week. Johnny will continue to work on his reading (Goal 1) over ESY to maintain his current level of reading performance."

  2. Explanation: "Progress monitoring data indicate that Johnny's reading fluency regressed significantly over winter break and it took longer than the length of winter break to recoup previously demonstrated fluency (Johnny was reading at 85 wpm prior to winter break, after winter break he was reading at 65 wpm. He did not get back up to 85 wpm until February 22).

Self-Sufficiency Example:

  1. Actions proposed or refused: "Johnny will receive ESY services in the areas of basic communication for 60 minutes 4 times per week and functional academic skills for 60 minutes 4 times a week. He will work on his communication (Goal 2) and functional academic skills (Goals 1 and 3)."

  2. Explanation: "Based on progress monitoring data and the degree of Johnny's disability, the IEP team determined that in order to attain self-sufficiency, Johnny must maintain skills in basic communication and functional academic skills."

Unique Need Example:

  1. Action(s) proposed or refused: "Johnny will receive ESY services in the areas of language and listening for 1 hour 4 times a week. Johnny will continue to work on his language and listening goals."

  2. Explanation: "Johnny needs ESY services as he recently received a cochlear implant. He is four years old and is at a critical language learning window. In addition, he is a new cochlear implant user. Johnny needs to learn how to identify sounds in his environment that he has never heard before." 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes. It is the responsibility of the district to determine and document eligibility for ESY whether the parent intends to send them to the program or not. We will stand ready to serve the student.

  • Yes. Eligibility for ESY needs to determine each year. It is possible for a student to qualify one year and then not qualify the next. It is also possible that a student will never qualify for ESY.