Know Your Rights · Compensatory Education

COVID Learning Loss and Your Child’s IEP: Compensatory Education Rights

During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of students with IEPs received inadequate or no services for months, sometimes years. Many are still experiencing the effects. Compensatory education is the legal remedy, and families still have the right to pursue it. Here’s what you need to know.

What Happened During COVID

When schools closed in March 2020 and shifted to remote or hybrid models, students with disabilities were disproportionately harmed. Services that depend on in-person interaction, speech therapy, OT, ABA, specialized instruction, were often impossible to deliver effectively via Zoom, particularly for young children or children with significant communication or behavioral needs. Many students received no services at all for weeks or months.

Congress passed legislation waiving some IDEA requirements during the pandemic, but those waivers were narrow and temporary. They did not eliminate the school’s core obligation to provide FAPE. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) both issued guidance confirming that schools retained their obligation to provide a free appropriate public education throughout the pandemic, and that students who missed services may be entitled to compensatory services.

What Is Compensatory Education?

Compensatory education (or “comp ed”) is an equitable remedy, not a right explicitly listed in IDEA, but one established by federal courts, that requires a school to provide additional services to make up for a prior failure to provide FAPE. It’s the educational equivalent of “making a child whole.”

Comp ed is not automatically calculated as hour-for-hour replacement of missed services. Courts have held that it must be “reasonably calculated to provide the educational benefit that was lost due to the district’s failure.” What this means in practice depends on the child, the nature of the services missed, and the impact of the gap on their educational trajectory.

How to Build a Compensatory Education Case

A successful comp ed claim requires documenting both the failure to provide services and the impact of that failure. Here’s how to start building your case:

• ✓Request all records from the pandemic period, Use a formal FERPA records request to obtain IEPs, service logs, attendance records, and any communications about remote service delivery. You’re looking for documentation of what was planned vs. what was actually delivered.
• ✓Document regression, Compare your child’s progress data from before COVID with data from after the service gap. Regression in previously mastered skills is evidence of harm. Gather teacher reports, private therapy notes, and your own observations.
• ✓Get a private evaluation, An independent evaluation documenting current performance levels and the discrepancy from expected trajectory can be powerful evidence of educational harm caused by the service gap.
• ✓Calculate the gap formally, For each service on the IEP, calculate the hours that were not delivered vs. what was required. This isn’t the final comp ed number, but it creates a baseline for negotiation.

How to Request Compensatory Services

Start by requesting comp ed in writing to the district’s EC director. The letter should:

• Identify the specific time period when services were not provided or were inadequate
• Reference the services that were required by the IEP during that period
• Document the impact (regression, failure to progress) with available evidence
• Request a specific comp ed remedy, such as extended school year services, additional service hours, or private therapy funded by the district

Schools may respond with resistance, denial, or a counter-proposal. If negotiation fails, a state complaint or due process may be necessary. See our guide on what to do when the IEP is not being followed.

What Comp Ed Can Look Like

Compensatory education can take many forms, depending on negotiation or a hearing officer’s order:

• Extended school year services (summer program)
• Additional hours of speech, OT, or ABA services during the school year
• Funding for private therapy to make up the missed services
• A placement in a more intensive setting to address regression
• Specialized tutoring or academic recovery programs

Read our guide on how to request additional IEP services.