There are currently over 26,000 students in FCPS who receive special education services.  All of these students are considered for ESY during annual IEP meetings.  However, only students whose IEP teams determine that ESY services are necessary to provide a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) can attend.  ESY cannot be limited based on area of disability.  This means that the school system cannot decide to serve only certain students with disabilities, or conversely, that specific disability areas are excluded.  In addition, services must be designed to meet student needs, and cannot be pre-limited to specific duration or type of service.  In summer 2023, the ESY program had 12 preschool/elementary sites, three secondary sites, and five center-based programs for Burke School, Cedar Lane School, Key Center, Kilmer Center, and Quander Road School. 

Based upon projected student numbers, the ESY office in collaboration with facilities and transportation begins identifying sites in the fall for the upcoming summer.

School year teachers provide the most recent agreed-upon IEP and a student profile for each student attending ESY.  These documents include information about the student’s current level of performance on targeted ESY goals, as well as information about how the school year teacher has been addressing these goals.  The school year teacher creates data sheets to track progress towards meeting ESY goals.  Progress on ESY goals is reported to parents on an IEP progress report at the end of the ESY session.  This is simultaneously recorded in the FCPS online IEP system, SEA-STARS, and is immediately available to the student's fall IEP team.

General classroom materials and office supplies are compiled and provided to each ESY site by the ESY office with input provided by the PreK-12 Special Education Instruction, Adapted Curriculum, and ABA teams in the Office of Special Education Instruction.  School year teachers send student-specific materials to ESY for student use.  These may include specific visual cueing cards, communication systems, specialized reading programs or math materials, behavior systems and reinforcers, etc. Specialized computer programs are provided through assistive technology services (ATS) as needed and individualized assistive communication devices are provided, depending on specific student enrollment and need to access these devices.  There is collaboration with the Office of Special Education Instruction curriculum specialists to ensure that ESY teachers and support staff receive training on curriculum materials as well as teaching methodologies, behavior management, assessment, and data collection strategies that are appropriate to the special education student population that they will be teaching.  In addition, consultative support is provided to teachers throughout ESY.  Specialized reading, writing, and math materials are provided for teachers to meet student needs and to provide evidence-based instruction.

The ESY team of the Office of Special Education Instruction works to ensure a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment for delivery of ESY services.  One focus is to provide teachers who work with special education students during the school year the training needed to discuss ESY at the IEP meeting and to ensure that the selected ESY goals are appropriate to maintain a learned skill within the ESY time frame.  School administrators are also provided informational trainings to assist them in understanding the needs of the students who attend ESY and how they can best support their staff and parents within the IEP team discussions about ESY.

Another critical focus is the staffing and preparation of school sites for ESY which includes ongoing collaboration with transportation, facilities, human resources, food services, school health services, therapy services, etc. to provide an effective learning environment for staff and students.  Host site visits are completed in the spring with the host school administrative team and the ESY site administrator to further ensure a safe and positive climate for all individuals during ESY.   Additionally, both general classroom materials and office supplies are compiled and sent to ESY host sites to support instruction. 

Training on data collection and student’s progress reports for documenting progress on ESY goals is provided to ESY staff.  Adequate progress with the ESY goals indicates that the student received instruction that helped to maintain the progress/skill made during the school year on identified critical life skills as defined by the ESY IEP goal(s).  Progress on ESY goals is documented on the ESY progress report (IEP-205).  Student progress on ESY goals is documented with progress codes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5:  code 1, this goal has not been introduced/student did not attend ESY; code 2, student has not yet demonstrated progress towards achieving this goal; code 3, the student has demonstrated some progress towards achieving this goal; code 4, the student is making sufficient progress towards achieving this goal within the duration of this IEP; code 5, the student has met the criteria for this goal/objective.

Future Focus

• The ESY team will continue to work with other offices in the Department of Special Services and school teams to support the increased understanding of identifying students who are appropriate for ESY and helping school staff to write appropriate ESY goals for students.
• The ESY team in collaboration with Human Resources will continue to streamline the hiring process for efficiency and effectiveness to ensure that all ESY positions are staffed.
• The ESY team will provide continued support to ESY staff in implementing instructional and management expectations during ESY.
• The ESY team will continue development of communication, training plans, and evaluation processes to ensure that ESY management, logistics, and instruction occurs as outlined.

Goal #1

During the 2023-2024 school year, the ESY and Assessment team, in collaboration with the Office of Procedural Support, will develop trainings, resources, and provide support to school staff around the factors to consider to determine if students require ESY in order to maintain critical life skills, data collection, and developing ESY goals.  Data sources will include trainings, office hours, resources developed, and collaborative visits to support school staff.

Goal #2

During the 2023-2024 school year, the ESY and Assessment team in collaboration with other offices in FCPS to include food services, transportation and the Office of Special Education Instruction as well as Fairfax County Health Department will develop trainings and resources to support all 2024 ESY staff.  The ESY and Assessment team will also provide direct support to ESY sites.  Data sources will include planning meetings, trainings, office hours, resources developed, and visits to support ESY sites.

During the 2022-2023 school year, the ESY team continued to focus their goal on the alignment of instruction to ESY IEP goals.  One way to measure the alignment of instruction to ESY IEP goals is through the information provided on progress reports at the end of ESY.  Training was provided to ESY staff on aligning instruction, classroom and behavior management, data collection, and progress reports.    

Goal

By September 1, 2023, there will be a 10% decrease from 2022 data in the number of students receiving a progress code of 2 who attend ESY at least 50% of the days.  During ESY 2022, there were a total of 111 students out of 3,673 students who attended ESY at least 50% of the time who received a progress code of 2 on their ESY progress report. 

During ESY 2023, there were a total of 140 students out of 2,933 students who attended ESY at least 50% of the time who received a progress code of 2 on one or more goals on their ESY progress report.  While there was an increase of students who received a 2 on their progress report for a goal, there was also an increase of over 235 students who attended ESY.