How to Read an IEP: California
Understanding Extended School Year & Transition Services and Planning
California IEP Guide: Transition Services and Plan
What are transition services and plans?
This is the part of the IEP where the team discusses the student’s plan for transitioning from high school into higher education or employment. Generally, this section is either blank or missing entirely from IEPs for younger students but, beginning at age 16, it is a required part of students’ IEPs and will appear in all high school students’ IEPs. In this section, the team has to list what the student’s goals are for after high school, how they will get there, and any transition specific services they need. It also often includes the courses a student will take throughout high school, with a list of the courses they expect to take each year and how many credits they need for graduation.
Where in the IEP are transition services and plans found?
Varies widely! You might not even see it in younger students’ IEPs. It is always labeled transition but can be literally anywhere in an IEP.
How does transition planning vary across states and districts?
So much! The placement can vary and how the questions are phrased– and whether it appears on younger students’ IEPs at all. All districts will have both evidence of transition assessments and goals for older students, but the phrasing of them can vary a lot!
This was stitched together from Sonoma County. Note that the goals appear in a different section of the IEP– but this shows how goals have a transition box to check.
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Student Invited: ☑ Yes ☐ No
If Appropriate, and agreed upon, agencies invited: ☑ Yes ☐ No ☐ N/A
Describe how the student participated in the process:
☑ Present At Meeting ☑ Interview Prior ☑ Interest Inventories ☐ Questionnaire
Age-appropriate transition assessments/instruments were used: ☑ Yes ☐ No
Describe the results of the assessments:
Interest inventory suggests work as a mechanic would be a good fit for Julio.
Student’s Post Secondary Goal Training or Education (Required):
Upon completion of school I will Go to Santa Rosa Junior College
Transition Service Code as Appropriate:
820 College awareness
Activities to Support Post Secondary Goal:
Julio will research Junior College registration requirements and put that in his Transition Portfolio.
Community Experiences as Appropriate:
Julio will visit SRJC and its Disability Resource Center
Related Services as Appropriate: [Blank]
Linked to Annual Goal # 2
Person/Agency Responsible: Education Specialist
Student’s Post Secondary Goal Employment (Required):
Upon completion of school I will Get a job as an airplane mechanic.
Transition Service Code as Appropriate:
840 Career awareness
Activities to Support Post Secondary Goal:
Research certifications needed to be an airplane mechanic and put that in his Transition Portfolio.
Community Experiences as Appropriate:
Interview an airplane mechanic to ask about requirements.
Related Services as Appropriate: [Blank]
Linked to Annual Goal # 2
Person/Agency Responsible: Education Specialist
Student’s Post Secondary Goal Independent Living (As appropriate):
Upon completion of school I will [Blank]
Transition Service Code as Appropriate: [Blank]
Activities to Support Post Secondary Goal: [Blank]
Community Experiences as Appropriate: [Blank]
Related Services as Appropriate: [Blank]
Linked to Annual Goal # [Blank]
Person/Agency Responsible: [Blank]
ANNUAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Student Name: Lopez, Julio Birthdate: 9/25/2002 IEP Date: 3/22/2019
Area of Need: College and Career Awareness
Baseline: Julio has completed an interest survey, but needs to update it. He has not researched education and training requirements to reach the selected career.
Measurable Annual Goal #: 2
Goal: By 3/21/2020, the student will complete interest surveys and career assessments to identify careers of interest and related educational / training requirements as measured by contents of Transition Portfolio.
☑ Enables student to be involved/progress in general curriculum/state standard
☑ Addresses other educational needs resulting from the disability
☐ Linguistically appropriate
☑ Transition Goal:
☑ Education/Training ☑ Employment ☐ Independent Living
Person(s) Responsible: Education Specialist
These are pretty all over the place! Generally, you want to see that there was an age appropriate transition assessment where the student was asked about what they want to do after high school. You should also see measurable transition goals. These are often something like the ones in the Arizona sample IEP; “1. Kyra will meet with Vocational Rehabilitation Services before she graduates to develop a career and independent living plan. 2. Kyra will apply to rent an apartment so that she may live independently. 3. Kyra will enroll in Mohave Community College to get her basic requirements for an AA degree.” You should see that there is both a current assessment and meaningful goals related to that assessment.
Teachers, the only thing to look for here is the student’s goal. It gives you a sense of what the student is planning after high school– which can tell you what the student is into and whether college is in the picture or not.
California IEP Guide: Extended School Year
What is extended school year (ESY)?
ESY is summer school for students with disabilities. Typically, programs will run on a half day schedule for one month over the summer– something like nine to noon, Monday to Thursday.
Qualifying for ESY is a team decision but the criteria should be whether the student will regress over summer without IEP services.
In general, the only students who qualify for this are students with more significant needs for whom a break without school can cause significant regression. This might be a child with Autism who without the routine of school over the summer will have a lot of challenges managing in the fall or a child with really, really significant learning challenges who will regress over the summer. Only a small fraction of students typically get ESY– although any parent can request it and see what happens.
ESY is taught by whoever the district can find and generally consists of activities like making ants on a log and recess with a lot of supported communication from a speech pathologist. So don’t expect it to be like a hard hitting summer school– it’s a routine of going to school made as fun as the staff can pull off.
Where in the IEP is ESY?
Sometimes there is an ESY box on the special factors page. If not, it can literally be anywhere in the IEP. To be annoying, most districts don’t spell out ESY and the page never states that it is extended school year. If you think your child needs it, hunt for it. If not, ignore it.
How does ESY vary across districts and states?
Extended school year is part of IDEA. That means that every single district in the United States is required to offer it. Some try to hide it and will never mention it and some will offer it readily– and some have programs so bad it is a waste of your child’s time. But all of them are legally required to have an ESY program. However, there is no rule about what ESY needs to look like, how many days per week it needs to meet, or how many hours per day. ESY has to exist under the law– but everything else from who goes to how long it is to what happens during it (other than the delivery of basic IEP services) can vary widely across districts and states.
This IEP comes from San Joaquin College of Law. See the full IEP here.
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EXTENDED SCHOOL YEAR (ESY)
☑ Yes ☐ No
Rationale: Student’s academic progress will regress during the Summer months without ESY.
Service: Language and speech
Provider: District of Service
Duration/Freq: 90 min served Monthly
Start Date: 6/11/2019
End Date: 7/11/2019
☑ Ind ☑ Grp ☐ Sec Transition
Location: Separate classroom in public integrated facility
Comments: Language
Service: Specialized Academic Instruction
Provider: District of Service
Duration/Freq: 235 min × 5 Totaling: 1175 min served Weekly
Start Date: 6/11/2019
End Date: 7/11/2019
☑ Ind ☑ Grp ☐ Sec Transition
Location: Separate classroom in public integrated facility
Comments: [Blank]
Service: Behavior intervention Services
Provider: District of Service
Duration/Freq: 10 min × 1 Totaling: 10 min served Daily
Start Date: 6/11/2019
End Date: 7/11/2019
☑ Ind ☑ Grp ☐ Sec Transition
Location: Separate classroom in public integrated facility
Comments: [Blank]
Programs and services will be provided according to where student is in attendance and consistent with the district of service calendar and scheduled services, excluding holidays, vacations, and non-instructional days unless otherwise specified.
If the child qualifies for extended school year, there needs to be a box checked on the IEP and information entered about what goals will be worked on. If you want your child to get something out of ESY, prepare to be organized. ESY teachers are almost never the regular school year case managers and ESY programs are infamously disorganized. You will want a copy of your child’s IEP and, if possible, a binder of stuff for them to work on that you can hand deliver to the ESY teacher. For real. Sometimes it takes all of ESY for the teacher to get access to the IEP. I subbed a month once and never got IEPs. I used to hand deliver all of my students’ IEPs to their ESY teachers along with every piece of work I wanted them to do over the summer– and they prayed they would do at least a fraction of it.
Note that it is up to the team if a student will qualify. The criteria is supposed to be whether a student will regress but a lot of students who regress academically over the summer will not be offered ESY– districts tend to focus on students with significant communication or social needs. If you want your student to have ESY, push for it! But you also need to know that you aren’t getting credit recovery summer school or services with your child’s case manager– you are most likely getting something much more laid back!
