Your Helpful Guide to Successful ESY Planning
Summer is just around the corner! Everyone’s excited to end the school year and have some summer fun. But not special education teachers! We still have to plan for extended school year (ESY).
It can feel overwhelming, but we know how helpful ESY can be for our students. They’ll have a chance to keep up the skills they’ve worked hard to learn during the regular school year. With this in mind, we try our best ESY successful and also enjoyable.
So, what do you have to plan for? Here’s a list of things to consider when planning for the extended school year.
Understanding ESY Basics
What is ESY? Extended school year services are meant to help students who, over long breaks from school, may regress without continued support.
However, these are not the same as summer school or daycare. Instead, they focus on keeping up and avoiding the loss of skills necessary for the students to advance as specified in their Individualized Education Program (IEP).
What are the points you need to remember?
- The law requires school districts to provide ESY services to eligible students.
- ESY services are tailored to meet each of your student’s IEPs.
- They’re provided at no cost to families at any extended break, not just in summer.
- Not every IEP holder needs ESY services.
Keep this information in mind when planning for ESY!
Determining ESY Eligibility
Whether or not a student needs ESY services is determined by the IEP team. Among the many things the team takes into account are:
- The chance of not recovering abilities lost during breaks
- Possibility of losing fresh, developing skills
- Difficulties in moving toward IEP goals
If any of these conditions are likely, the student qualifies for ESY services. Remember that the student doesn’t need to have already experienced regression to qualify; even a reasonable expectation that regression would occur is enough.
Additionally, be careful of common mistakes when determining ESY eligibility. These include assuming that summer services will benefit all children, that services are needed because a student hasn’t progressed during the year, or simply based on the student’s disability category.
Collecting Data
ESY planning depends heavily on data because it helps determine which students need these services.
Teachers and other providers should collect data before and after school breaks to see how well the students are keeping up their skills.
This means recording how pupils perform before and after a break and how long it takes them to regain any lost skills. But when you do this, make sure to compare similar tasks to get accurate information.
Moreover, don’t just focus on the summer break. Collect data during Thanksgiving, spring break, and other extended breaks.
When you have detailed information about your student’s progress, it’s easier to address any concerns from parents regarding their child’s progress.
Check out these tips on how to easily track your data digitally!
Identify ESY Goals
Unlike IEP goals, ESY goals are not created to improve current skills or learn new ones. When establishing ESY goals, the focus is preventing regression. The goal is to help the student minimize skill loss and re-learn after a school break.
To identify these goals, the IEP team should review data on how the student has managed after previous breaks. Look for patterns in the child’s performance and note any skills that consistently take longer to regain every time. These are the areas where ESY services can really help.
Each student’s ESY services are tailored to their unique needs, ensuring they receive the right support to maintain their progress.
Working with Parents
It’s also important to communicate with parents when planning for ESY. Start by meeting with them early to explain how decisions were made, making it clear how the data supports the need for ESY services. This can be done more easily by documenting the whole decision-making process and the final decisions in advance.
Pay attention to what the parents have to say and what they suggest, and keep the student’s needs throughout the discussion.
There are many possible ESY services, such as:
- Traditional classroom setting
- School-based programs
- Daily instruction in specific IEP goal areas
- Small group instruction
- Community-based programs
- Home-based programs
By planning carefully and working together with parents, you can create a smooth and successful ESY program!
Drafting a Schedule
When planning for ESY, creating a schedule or routine is very important to make sure that everything goes smoothly.
Try using a visual schedule, just like the one you use in regular school! This helps maintain consistency and makes it easy for students to transition into something different.
Start by drafting an outline based on your district’s ESY schedule. For example, if ESY runs two days a week from morning til after lunch, use this framework to plan your day.
Here’s a sample schedule:
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8:00Â | Morning Meeting |
8:15Â | Math Rotation |
9:15Â | IEP Goal Work |
9:45 | Vocational Skills Rotation |
10:45 | Lunch |
11:30 | IEP Goal Work / Pack-up |
12:00 | Dismissal |
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Begin each day with a morning meeting, as you would during the school year. During rotations, students can work on math, vocabulary, social skills, and other skills or IEP goals.
For IEP goal work, bring your IEP bins to ESY. This makes data collection easier and makes sure that every student works on their own goals.
End the day with a pack-up routine!
By doing things in an organized way, you can make sure that both you and your students have a smooth and enjoyable extended school year.
Planning Lessons & Activities
During the extended school year, it’s important to plan lessons and activities that prevent skill regression while keeping the students interested.
First, review your curriculum and create an ESY Scope and Sequence. Plan lessons that align with each student’s IEP goals and consider the whole group, small group, and individual activities.
Incorporate fun summer themes like a Student-Run Smoothie Making & Delivery Business. Another great way to keep students engaged is to talk about current events. Moreover, get to know your students better by doing activities that explore their preferences.
Include practical life skills like household chores that will make the students become more independent. Teach home and community vocabulary, and practice community skills such as safety, shopping, and money management.
The possibilities are endless! You just need to be more creative when thinking of lessons and activities. You can even find many ideas for ESY lessons and activities online!
Planning for the extended school year takes time and effort, but it is worth it to help students maintain their hard-earned skills.
By using a consistent schedule, setting clear goals, collecting data, and involving parents, you can create a supportive and effective ESY program. Remember to incorporate engaging activities that tie into students’ IEP goals and make learning fun.
With careful planning and teamwork, you can ensure a successful ESY that prepares students for the new school year ahead.
