California Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID) FAQs

What is the California Statewide Educator Identifier (SEID)?

The SEID is a unique statewide identification number to be used by education agencies when reporting to the California Department of Education (CDE). The SEID is a 10 digit randomly generated, non-personally identifiable number.

Education Code, §44230.5

Who gets a SEID and how are SEIDs issued?

SEIDs are issued by the Commission to all certificated staff (teaching and non-teaching) that have a valid application or hold a valid certificate, permit or credential maintained by CTC. Certificated staff are individuals that provide educational services including teachers, administrators, counselors, librarians, nurses, speech therapists, and others. 

Will an individual who only holds a Certificate of Clearance be assigned a SEID?

Yes. A Certificate of Clearance is a valid application type which results in the issuance of a SEID.

Do educators have access to their own SEID?

No. The Commission does not distribute the SEID number of any educator to anyone in the public, or even the individual educator. The SEID is designated by law (Education Code §44230.5) to be a non-personally identifiable marker only used for state mandated reporting purposes, it would defeat the purpose of the SEID to identify it with a specific individual.

Do employers have access to the SEIDs of their employees?

SEID access is the exclusive domain of school employers, credential analysts, and Commission staff. Only appropriately authorized individuals at the County Office of Education, School District or charter school are granted access to educator’s SEIDs for purposes of CALPADS reporting to CDE. 

How do employing agencies access the SEID of an educator?

The new SEID Lookup can be accessed online using the Tools portal of the Educator Credentialing System (ECS). Authorized individuals will be granted access to the ECS and authenticated prior to usage. Within the SEID Lookup on the ECS, authorized users can access educator SEIDs by entering a social security number (SSN), document number, or educator name.

What are SEIDs used for?

A SEID is used as a unique identifier for an educator when local educational agencies submit California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) assignment data and other reporting to the California Department of Education (CDE). Beginning with the 2019-20 school year, assignment monitoring for charter and non-charter schools will be completed in the California Statewide Assignment Accountability System (CalSAAS) which works through the comparison of the CDE’s CALPADS assignment data and the Commission’s Credential authorization data by educator’s SEID.  LEAs and charter schools must have access to the SEIDs of educators employed at their LEA or charter school in order to report the assignment into CALPADS. Failure to report an assignment with an educator’s SEID number will result in a Vacancy determination within CalSAAS, which is considered a Misassignment. These assignments cannot be justified as appropriate assignments unless the LEA is able to provide the educator’s SEID and credential information.  

Do agencies that contract with charter schools have access to SEIDs of educators?

Pursuant to Education Code §44230.5, charter schools can access SEIDs. Vendors, consultant firms, and agencies that provide contracted employees to charter schools do not have access to SEIDs of educators.

Agencies that provide HR support services to charter schools can access SEIDS if they have been authorized to do so on behalf of the charter school by their monitoring authority. Employees at these agencies can be granted access to the SEID lookup tool if they have either (1) been given a CalSAAS account by their monitoring authority, or (2) if their charter school's monitoring authority requests access.

How do employers get access to the new SEID Lookup Tool?

The SEID Lookup tool within the Educator Credentialing System (ECS) is secured and is available to authorized individuals only. Individuals who had a user account in the California Statewide Assignment Accountability System (CalSAAS) or were involved in California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) reporting at the time of the ECS SEID Lookup launch were automatically given access to the SEID Lookup. An email was distributed to these individuals with instructions on how to access this feature and authenticate themselves.

Employers who require access but did not receive the email described above, may email SEID@ctc.ca.gov for assistance. Within the email provide the following information:

  • Your full name
  • Your Title
  • Your email address associated to your organization
  • CDS code associated to the County Office of Education, school district, or charter school you represent

Note: Access to the ECS SEID Lookup is limited to authorized representatives of County Offices of Education, school districts, and charter schools. Access will not be granted to vendors, consultant firms, and other agencies that contract with schools.

SEIDs and Confidentiality

Pursuant to Education Code 44230.5, a SEID is a nonpersonally identifiable educator identification number. Therefore, SEIDs should be treated with a level of confidentiality. If you must send a SEID electronically, you may do so only if the SEID is not associated with an educator name.

At what point in the certification process does an educator receive a SEID?

SEIDs are automatically generated upon payment for an application. The SEID Lookup Tool displays SEIDs for individuals who have been issued a document by the Commission. SEIDs for individuals with only a pending application will not be displayed.
Updated October 10, 2023