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OSERS Provides IDEA Guidance for Education of Highly Mobile Students

[image of a child and an adult sitting on the floor in front of a couch. The child is using a laptop computer and the adult is placing a shirt into a suitcase]

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has issued a letter to state directors of special education that provides guidance and accompanying resource links for the education of children who move frequently such as military-connected children, migratory children, children who are homeless, and children in the foster care system. The letter enumerates two specific issues to that districts need to address to be in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) -- expedited evaluations and delivery of comparable services such as Extended School Year (ESY) services. The letter strongly recommends that districts complete their evaluations and determinations within a 30 day period if possible. In its analysis of comparable services provided to highly mobile students, OSERS interprets “comparable services” to include ESY services, contrary to some receiving district beliefs that “comparable services” are limited to the school year. Specifically, “A transfer student’s need for ESY services as comparable services could arise if the child received ESY services from the previous school district during the prior summer and the child’s current IEP from that school district reflects the child’s need for those services, or if the child’s current IEP from the previous school district includes ESY services that have not yet been provided because the child’s family has moved.”

Read the complete letter here.  

Posted:  18 November, 2022
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