Vermont Extended School Year and Summer Services for Special Education Transition

What Extended School Year Is and Isn't

Extended School Year (ESY) services provide instruction and related services beyond the regular school calendar — typically during summer — to prevent significant regression in skills a student has gained. ESY is an IDEA entitlement when the IEP team determines that without it, the student will lose critical skills and won't recoup them within a reasonable time after school resumes.

For transition-age students in Vermont, ESY serves a different purpose than it does for younger students. When a 7-year-old receives ESY, the focus is usually academic — maintaining reading or math skills over summer. When a 17- or 20-year-old receives ESY, the focus should include transition skills: workplace behaviors, community navigation, independent living routines, and the social communication skills that employment and adult life demand.

The distinction matters because many Vermont IEP teams default to academic-focused ESY programming for older students, missing the opportunity to use summer as intensive transition skill-building time. If your teenager's transition IEP includes goals around workplace readiness, community-based instruction, or self-advocacy, those are exactly the skills ESY should address — not a repeat of remedial math.

Eligibility for Transition-Age Students

ESY eligibility in Vermont is determined by the IEP team based on individual student data, not by disability category or a blanket policy. The team considers:

• Regression and recoupment evidence — Does the student lose skills during school breaks? How long does it take to get them back? The standard benchmark is whether the recoupment period is significantly longer than what's typical for the student.
• Nature and severity of the disability — Students with more significant disabilities often show greater regression over extended breaks, particularly in functional and behavioral areas.
• Emerging skills at a critical juncture — If a student is on the verge of mastering a transition-critical skill (independent bus use, a new workplace routine, medication self-management), a summer break could erase months of progress.
• The student's rate of progress — Slow progress toward transition goals may indicate that the standard school year doesn't provide enough instructional time.

For transition-age students, the "critical juncture" criterion deserves particular attention. A student participating in a work-based learning experience through HireAbility's Earn-and-Learn program who takes a three-month break may lose not just the skills but the placement itself. A student practicing independent public transit navigation who stops for the summer may need to restart from scratch. ESY for transition skills isn't just about preventing regression — it's about maintaining momentum in time-sensitive skill development.

What ESY Should Look Like for Older Students

An ESY program for a transition-age student should mirror the student's IEP transition goals, not revert to a generic summer school format. That means:

Community-based rather than classroom-based. If the student is working on grocery shopping skills, bus navigation, or workplace communication during the school year, ESY should continue those activities in the same community settings — not in a school building with worksheets about grocery shopping.

Connected to ongoing agency relationships. If the student has a HireAbility counselor, a work-based learning placement, or a community volunteer site, ESY should maintain those connections. A three-month gap can mean losing a placement that took months to establish.

Focused on transition goal areas. The IEP team should specify which transition goals ESY addresses and how progress will be measured over the summer. "The student will attend a summer program" isn't a goal. "The student will independently navigate the Green Mountain Transit route between home and their volunteer site three times per week with decreasing staff support" is a goal.

The Problem with Summer Gaps

For transition-age students approaching their final years of school eligibility, summer gaps compound. A student who has three summers remaining before aging out at 22 and spends each one without services loses nine months of transition programming — nearly a full school year. For students with significant support needs, that lost time can be the difference between exiting into supported employment and exiting without the skills to hold a job.

The financial argument works in families' favor here. ESY programming is far less expensive than the compensatory education a district may owe if a student exits school without adequate transition preparation. When requesting ESY, frame it as preventive: maintaining transition skills over summer costs less than rebuilding them every fall, and it's far cheaper than the compensatory services the district might need to provide if the student's transition goals aren't met by exit.

Requesting ESY

ESY should be discussed at every annual IEP review. Don't wait for the school to raise it — bring data showing how your child responds to breaks in instruction. If possible, collect observations over winter and spring breaks: did your child regress in daily routines, workplace behaviors, or social skills during the two-week holiday? How long did it take to recover?

If the IEP team denies ESY, they must provide Prior Written Notice explaining the decision and the data they relied on. You can challenge the denial through mediation or a state complaint if you believe the team's decision doesn't reflect your child's actual regression patterns.

The Vermont IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes a meeting preparation worksheet that helps families organize their case for ESY by tracking skill regression data and linking it to specific transition goals.

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