End-of-year checklist for special education teachers

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

This end-of-year checklist covers what a special education teacher finishes between April and the last day: reviews due over the summer, ESY decisions, final progress reports, handoffs to next year's teachers, service totals, file cleanup and next year's date list. Each item has a reason. Start in April, because most of the work has to happen before the last two weeks.

The end of the year is when small gaps turn into August emergencies. An annual review due July 15 that nobody held in May means a lapsed IEP on the first day. A receiving teacher who never saw the IEP means a September of guessing. This checklist is built to close those gaps while the team is still in the building.

The year-round compliance list lives in the IEP case manager checklist, and the case manager's handbook covers the role. This page is the spring close-out in detail.

Before the last month (April to early May)

List every annual review and reevaluation due between now and October 1. Reason: summer reviews are the ones that lapse. Pull them from the caseload tracker and schedule them before school ends.
Confirm dates in the IEP due date calculator. Reason: a review due August 20 may fall before staff return, so it belongs in May.
Make ESY decisions with data, at IEP meetings. Reason: extended school year is decided by the IEP team, student by student, under criteria your state sets.^[1] See ESY eligibility criteria.
Schedule transition meetings for students changing schools. Reason: 5th to 6th and 8th to 9th grade moves go better when the receiving case manager sits in the meeting.
Check service minutes delivered against minutes owed for the year. Reason: missed sessions you find in April can still be made up before June.
Ask related service providers for their final data dates. Reason: the SLP and OT often have their own close-out, and your progress report waits on theirs.
Book the meeting room for May reviews now. Reason: every case manager in the building wants the same room the same 3 weeks.

The last weeks of school

Take final data probes on every goal. Reason: the last progress report needs a current number, and next year's team needs a starting point.
Write and send final progress reports. Reason: the IEP says how often progress is reported, and the last period counts like the others.^[2] The progress-report-season workflow cuts the time.
Send each receiving teacher an IEP snapshot, or set a date to do it in August. Reason: the IEP must be accessible to each teacher who implements it, and each must know their part.^[3]
Hand off devices and materials with a written list. Reason: an assistive technology device that leaves for summer without a record often comes back without its charger or case.
Send ESY teachers the goals, data sheets and current levels. Reason: ESY staff usually start cold and have 4 to 6 weeks.
Send families a short summer note. Reason: one page of practice ideas and who to contact in August helps more than a packet nobody opens.
Update the parent contact log and the service log for the last time. Reason: the record is easiest to complete while you still remember the details.

After students leave (closing out)

Total each student's minutes for the year and note missed sessions and make-ups. Reason: if a family or reviewer asks in October, the answer should be one page, not a search.
File originals in the official student record. Reason: the district's file is the record of what happened; your binder is a working copy. See special education records storage.
Shred working copies you no longer need, following district rules. Reason: old snapshots and drafts in a classroom drawer are a privacy risk all summer.
Build next year's date list. Reason: an August you that opens a sorted list starts 2 days ahead of an August you that opens 20 folders.
Note which students move off your caseload and who receives them. Reason: a clean handoff list prevents the "I thought you had him" problem.
Write 3 lines of notes for yourself on what to change. Reason: you will forget by August which schedule block did not work.
Lock the room and the cabinet. Reason: summer school, cleaning crews and camps use the building, and records are still records.

Dates that carry into next year

Item	Due	Where it goes
Reviews due June 1 to October 1	Held before the last day, or scheduled for the first 2 weeks	Caseload tracker and compliance calendar
Reevaluations due in the fall	Consent signed in spring if testing must start early	Caseload tracker
ESY start and end dates	Before the last day	IEP and family letter
Receiving teacher handoffs	Last week, or the August plan date	Contact log
First progress report date next year	When the district calendar is posted	Compliance calendar

Worked example: closing out a 17-student caseload

A fictional 4th and 5th grade resource teacher starts in April. The tracker shows 3 reviews due over the summer (June 28, July 19 and August 24). She schedules all three for May 6, 13 and 20, with parent agreement.

Four students have ESY on the table. Two qualify under her state's regression and recoupment criteria based on winter break data; two do not.

In late May she totals minutes. One student received 1,560 of 1,620 required minutes of math for the year. The 60-minute gap came from a 2-week illness in February, already partly made up. She records the balance and the make-up plan in the service log and tells the family.

Six 5th graders move to middle school. She sends each receiving case manager a snapshot and her final data, and sits in on 2 of the transition meetings. Her August list has 17 rows sorted by date, with the first fall review flagged for September 22.

What to do if something is missing

A summer review cannot be held before school ends. Tell your supervisor in writing and ask how the district handles summer meetings. Do not let it lapse quietly.
Final data is missing for a goal. Report what you have, say when the last data point was taken, and take a probe in the first week of the new year.
A receiving teacher is not yet hired. Send the snapshot to the receiving case manager or the department lead, and note the date.
A family has not responded about ESY. Document 2 or 3 attempts by different methods, and send the ESY information home in writing.
Minutes are short for the year. Talk with your administrator about make-up or compensatory services. The IEP team decides, not you alone.

The beginning-of-year checklist picks up where this one ends.

Frequently asked questions

What should I do with IEPs due over the summer?

Schedule them before school ends whenever possible. If a meeting cannot happen in spring, tell your supervisor in writing and follow the district's summer meeting process so the IEP does not lapse.

Do I have to send a final progress report in June?

If the IEP says progress is reported each quarter or with report cards, the last period counts. Send the final report on the same schedule as the others.

What records should I keep at the end of the year?

File originals in the official student record and follow your district's retention schedule. Shred working copies you no longer need under district rules, and lock anything left in your room.

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Sources

34 CFR §300.106: Extended school year services, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
34 CFR §300.323: When IEPs must be in effect, U.S. Department of Education (IDEA website)

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.