Criteria for Determining Eligibility for Extended School Year Services

Extended school year (ESY) services has been an understudied area of special education research. There is limited information available regarding ESY practices by local education agencies (LEAs) in determining eligibility as well as who receives what types of services. We surveyed special education directors across the nation to examine ESY practices by LEAs. Most notably, approximately two out of three special education directors (63%) reported that ESY services were only received by students in self-contained classrooms in their LEA. These LEAs that had no students outside of a self-contained classroom receiving ESY services also had a significantly lower percentage of students receiving ESY services as a whole. We recommend that this practice be discouraged as it effectively excludes students in inclusive settings who could benefit from ESY services and can steer parents away from inclusive placements if ESY services in the future will cease.

Defining Summer Gain Among Elementary Students With or at Risk for Reading Disabilities

Summer reading programs are a form of extended school year services for students in special education. However, previous studies have not reported including high percentages of participants in special education, nor have studies sufficiently controlled for selection bias. This study combined propensity score weighting with partially clustered models to examine the effects of a summer reading program on the growth in reading skills of K–4 students, roughly 50% to 75% of whom were in special education. Results suggest that students in most grades improved on some but not all skills. However, fewer improvements were apparent when participating students were compared with peers via propensity score analyses. In addition, Grade 3 students in the control group outperformed their peers who attended summer school.

Barriers to Providing Extended School Year Services to Students With Disabilities: An Exploratory Study of Special Education Directors

The purpose of the current study was to examine barriers, if any, reported by special education directors to providing extended school year (ESY) services. Results indicate four barriers to providing ESY services listed in order of importance by special education directors: difficulty in finding qualified personnel to work over the summer, determining eligibility for ESY services, compliance of parents, and limited financial resources to provide ESY services. Rural special education directors reported the barrier of difficulty in finding qualified personnel significantly more often than nonrural directors. Rural special education directors also reported significantly more barriers to providing ESY services in general.

Nine Tips for Creating an Effective Extended School Year Program for Students With Disabilities

Extended school year (ESY) is a summer program available for students with disabilities who meet specific qualifying criteria. Teachers are often hesitant to accept the position of the ESY teacher due to the ambiguities and demands of the position. The purpose of this article is to briefly share the impetus and focus of ESY and give special education teachers nine tips to create and execute an effective ESY program. When implemented correctly, ESY programs have the potential to help students maintain learned skills and master targeted skills.