Extended school year program enhances learning

Every summer, for five weeks, the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks IU) builds what amounts to a small school district, and it’s just for students with special needs. The Bucks IU’s Extended School Year (ESY) program supports between 1,000 and 1,150 students annually, ages kindergarten through 22, from across the Bucks County region. The goal? To help students hold onto the progress they’ve made during the school year, even during the long summer break.

“Helping students with special needs maintain their behaviors, social skills, knowledge, and hard-won abilities over the summer is so important to their continued development,” said Dr. Lenny Greaney, Bucks IU assistant to the executive director. “When teachers don’t need to spend time reteaching skills in the fall, they can jump right into helping students grow in new ways.”

This summer, the ESY program brought together a team of more than 540 staff members across six county-wide locations, serving over 1,100 students from eleven school districts. As an amazing team, the ESY group delivered more than 2,300 services over the five weeks of the program. Read more on the Bucks IU website.