Special Education Summer Services Newsletter: What Families Need to Know About Extended Year

Summer represents a significant communication challenge for special education programs. Families need information about whether their child qualifies for extended year services, what those services look like, and how to prevent regression even if services are not provided. A well-timed newsletter series around summer services handles all of these needs before the school year ends.

What Extended School Year Services Are and Are Not

ESY is not remediation. It is not enrichment. It is not summer school in the general education sense. ESY exists to provide services during the summer months to prevent significant regression in skills that are critical to the student's IEP goals and that data suggests would not be recouped within a reasonable time when school resumes.

Your newsletter should clarify this distinction clearly. Families who expect ESY to function as a full summer school program will be confused and possibly disappointed by what it actually provides. Families who understand its targeted nature will arrive prepared to support the specific goals being maintained and to provide continuity at home for the skills ESY does not directly address.

How ESY Eligibility Is Determined

The IEP team determines ESY eligibility based on a set of factors: regression data (how much the student loses during previous breaks), recoupment rate (how long it takes to return to baseline), the nature of the skills being targeted, the student's degree of disability, and the potential for harm if critical skills are not maintained. Explain these factors in your newsletter so families understand what evidence the team is considering and what data they can share.

Families who know that regression data is used in the eligibility determination are more likely to document what they observe during winter and spring breaks. That documentation can be submitted to the IEP team as evidence. Families who do not know this are not in a position to contribute it.

Program Format and What Students Experience

If your district provides ESY services, describe the format: which days and hours, at which location, with which staff, and targeting which goals. Many students experience ESY as a shortened school day with a different group of peers and unfamiliar staff. Prepare families for these differences so they can prepare the student in advance.

Include specific transition strategies: a visual schedule for the new program, practice saying goodbye in the morning, any changes to drop-off or pick-up procedures, and what materials the student should bring. A student who arrives at ESY knowing what to expect spends their first day learning rather than adjusting.

Home Support During Summer Regardless of ESY

Whether or not a student receives ESY, families can take meaningful steps to reduce regression over the summer. Your newsletter should provide a brief set of evidence-based recommendations tailored to the student's current IEP goals. For communication goals: maintain AAC use in all settings, model language at every opportunity. For literacy goals: read aloud daily, practice sight words in context. For math goals: use real-world math in cooking and shopping.

Also recommend maintaining the daily structure that school provides. A student who has a consistent wake time, meals, activity schedule, and bedtime across summer is much less likely to experience significant dysregulation when the new school year starts. Summer structure is not restrictive. It is protective.

Communicating About ESY Decisions When a Family Disagrees

When families believe their student needs ESY and the IEP team determines they do not qualify, conflict sometimes follows. Your newsletter should not be the place to handle individual disputes, but it should clearly state that families who disagree with an ESY determination have the right to request a meeting, review the data, and pursue procedural safeguards including mediation if needed.

Providing this information proactively signals that the school respects parent rights and does not expect families to simply accept decisions without question. Families who know their rights are more likely to engage constructively with the process than to escalate immediately to formal complaints. Daystage makes it easy to send a comprehensive summer services newsletter before the end of the school year that addresses ESY, home support strategies, and parent rights in one organized communication.