GUIDANCE FOR Local Education Agencies (LEAs)
Unique Certified Staff Identifier: assigning a unique identifier to all
certified education professionals in your local education agency.
LEAs will acquire and manage State IDs for their employed certified staff using
the following process:
1. A file has been posted on the NYSED’s IRS portal containing IDs for your
current staff members as of December 2009. This file contains:
First Name
Middle Initial
Last Name
Date of Birth
Last four digits of the SSN
State assigned ID
Download and use this file to match the persons identified in this file with your current professional staff.
Most districts will use data in their Human Resource system to accomplish this matching. Many of the major Human Resource vendors in the State have made provisions in their system for matching these data and assigning the State ID to staff members.
2. Since the file on the portal is based on data available to the Department as of December 2009, you will find three outcomes when you attempt to match to your current staff:
- Most of the staff in the State file will match to your current staff. You should assign the associated State ID to these staff members.
- There will be some staff that are in the State file, but not employed by you. You can ignore these entries. You have no responsibility to clarify these errors.
- There will be some staff that are employed by you but are not in the State file. These are most likely staff that you hired after the State compiled the data. You are responsible for obtaining the ID for those staff members by accessing their record in the TEACH** system and manually retrieving their State assigned ID.
3. You should store these IDs in a system that will allow you to maintain
them over time. While the Human Resource system is the most likely candidate
for this purpose, you are free to maintain this information in any form
that allows you to comply with State requirements.
4. Each time you hire a new staff member, you should acquire that
staff members ID from the TEACH**system and enter it into the system you
are using to maintain professional staff IDs.
**NOTE: The TEACH system will display the unique identifier for all certified professionals on or about July 1, 2010. Prior to that time you will be unable to assign an identifier to some of your staff members.
FAQS
1. Does the identifier apply only to teachers?
No. The identifier is assigned to anyone who has applied for a
professional certificate in New York State. Consequently you should assign
an identifier to anyone employed by you who has been assigned an identifier
by NYSED regardless of their role.
This would include Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents,
Principals, Guidance Counselors, etc.
2. What about part time employees?
A State identifier should be assigned to anyone employed by your
LEA who has been assigned an identifier by NYSED. This includes substitute
teachers as well as any teacher aide who has a professional certification.
3. How can I obtain access to the Portal?
Only the Superintendent of Schools can authorize access to the
Portal. In most districts the District Data Administrator or the CIO has
access to the IRS section of the Portal.