NYSED / STAC / Electronic Data Transfer Options / DCERT Submission Via FTP / Specs / Private Placement Certification

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Guidelines for submitting DCERT Private Placement Certifications via FTP

NYS Department of Education
11/29/22

The file Certification-Trans, described in the attached file layout, must be used for all data transfer with SED concerning adding DCERT private placement certifications. No private placement certification will require the use of all the data fields. Below you will find a list of the data fields necessary for SED to process DCERTs.

Child Information:

1. CERT-TR-STAC-ID – Required. This is the six digit unique identification number for all children on the STAC system.
2. CERT-TR-YEAR – Required. The school year the certification applies to, in CCY1Y2 format. For example, the 2022-23 school year would be represented by 2022223.
3. CERT-TR-LNAME – Required. Child's last name. Last names with imbedded spaces or special characters will be rejected. For example, send O’RILEY as ORILEY. Send VAN SCHAIK as VANSCHAIK. Send JONES-SMITH as JONESSMITH. Do not include any suffixes such as JR.
4. CERT-TR-FNAME – Required. Child's first name. First names with imbedded spaces or special characters will be rejected. For example, send BILLY BOB as BILLYBOB.
5. CERT-TR-MI – Optional. Child’s middle initial. If entered, must be an alpha character.
6. CERT-TR-DOB – Required. Child’s date of birth in CCYYMMDD format. For example a student born on 07/04/2016 would be reported as 20160704.
7. CERT-TR-SEX – Required. Student's gender identity.

   Value	Description
   F	Female
   M	Male
   X	Non-Binary

8. CERT-TR-RAC-ETH – Required. Racial-Ethnic indicator

   Value	Description
   A	American Native
   B	Black
   A	Asian
   H	Hispanic
   C	Caucasian
   U	Unknown

9. CERT-TR-OUTSIDE-ID - Optional. Child's unique ID number on your system. Must be left-justified and between 5 and 9 characters in length. We may have the child's ID from your system on the STAC file. If so, we can use it to match the child's transaction record to the child's record on the STAC file.

Education Information:

10. CERT-TR-DAY-RES - Placement type (D or R)
11. CERT-TR-IN-OUT - Placement location (I or O)
12. CERT-TR-CSE - Required. This is the SED Code for the school district with CSE responsibility. This code can be obtained from the Agency Provider Information link below.
13. CERT-CSE-DATE - Required. CSE meeting date in CC, YY, MM, DD order.
14. FILLER - 12 characters of blank spaces.

All Private Placements:

15. CERT-TR-CSE-IEP - The CSE has provided a current individual evaluation or reevaluation of the student.
16. CERT-TR-IEP - The student has a current individualized education program (IEP).
17. CERT-TR-NO-PUB - The student is of school-age and has a disability or combination of disabilities such that appropriate public facilities for instruction are not available.
18. CERT-TR-DOC-PUB - The CSE has documentation of its efforts to place the student in a public facility and the outcomes of those efforts, and/or of CSE findings regarding the lack of suitability of each currently available and geographically accessible public placement.
19. CERT-TR-DOC-RES - The CSE has documentation of all efforts to enable the student to benefit from instruction in less restrictive settings using support services and supplementary aids and special education services, and/or for those services not used, a statement of reasons why such services were not recommended.
20. CERT-TR-DET-LES - The CSE has detailed evidence of the student's lack of progress in previous less restrictive programs and placements or a statement of reasons that such evidence is not available.
21. CERT-TR-REAP-CS - In the case of a reapplication for reimbursement, the CSE has documentation of the continuing need for placement of the student in a private school.
22. CERT-TR-NKERSON - For NYC only: Initial Year Nickerson Day Placements - The CSE is not able to make one or more of the above assurances because the student has an IEP recommendation for a public day program and the student was placed in a private school by the parent pursuant to a Nickerson Letter for the first time this school year.
23. FILLER1 - 6 characters of blank spaces.

All Residential Placements:

24. CERT-TR-RES-NEED - Documentation is on record that residential services are necessary to meet the student's educational needs as identified in the student's IEP
25. CERT-TR-RES-TIM - Documentation is on record that includes a proposed plan and timetable for enabling the student to return to a less restrictive environment or a statement of reasons why such a plan is not currently appropriate.
26. CERT-TR-OUT-PLAC - For out-of-state placement recommendations, documentation is on record that demonstrates that there are no appropriate public or private facilities for instruction available within this State.
27. FILLER2 - 6 characters of blank spaces.

Initial Residential Placements:

28. CERT-TR-COUNTY-CONSENT - Documentation is on record that, upon determination that the student was first at risk of residential placement, the district sought parental consent (or consent of the student if age 18 or older) to invite county or State agency representatives to the CSE meeting to make recommendations concerning the appropriateness of residential placement and other program and placement alternatives. For students in a foster care placement, the local social services district was notified when the student was determined to be at risk of residential placement.
29. CERT-TR-OTHER-CONSENT - Documentation is on record that, upon determination that the student was first at risk of residential placement, the district obtained parental (or student) consent and other agency representative(s) were invited to the CSE meeting.
30. CERT-TR-COUNTY-ATTEND - Invited county or State agency representative attended the CSE meeting.
31. CERT-TR-COM-SUP - Documentation is on record that, upon determination that the student was first at risk of residential placement, the district provided information to the parent on community support services that may be available to the family, including the name and address of agencies which can perform an assessment of a family's community support needs, where such a list had been made available to the CSE.
32. FILLER3 - 5 characters of blank spaces

Submission Information:

33. CERT-TR-USERID - Required. This eight character field must be a valid Usercode established with the STAC unit as the user responsible for this record. Most Usercodes are comprised of the first initial of the first name followed by the next seven characters of the last name. The corresponding SRV-TR-CPLGR on this record must match the CPLGR-Code that the STAC unit has recorded for this Usercode.
34. CERT-CERT-DATE - The date the certification was submitted, in CC, YY, MM, DD order.
35. CERT-TR-REC-STATUS - Status of the Record returns a 00 if the DCERT was added.

Last Updated: November 29, 2022