CAASPP and ELPAC: New Crisis Alert Response System Goes Live February 13

CAASPP email update, February 10, 2023.

Dear LEA CAASPP Coordinator, LEA ELPAC Coordinator, Superintendent, or Charter School Administrator:

Beginning February 13, 2023, the new Crisis Alert Response System (CARS) will replace the current process of how an LEA is notified about crisis alert responses (previously named "alert papers"). A crisis alert response is one in which a student's response in a CAASPP or ELPAC assessment warrants an LEA's immediate attention, such as when a student suggests having experienced some kind of physical or emotional abuse, neglect, or self-harm, or when a student suggests they are experiencing severe distress or may cause harm to others.

When a crisis alert response has been identified for a student in the LEA, the LEA superintendent (or direct funded charter school administrators) and all LEA coordinators will receive an automated email. Because of the sensitive nature of this information, the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) will send an email reminder every three hours within the work day until a representative from the LEA logs on to TOMS and acknowledges the alert.

How to Acknowledge a CARS Alert

Take these steps to access CARS and acknowledge a CARS alert:

Log on to TOMS and either select the [CARS Alerts] link in the top-right corner of the TOMS interface to view all active CARS incidents; or select the [CARS] tab from the navigation bar.
1. For CAASPP and ELPAC coordinators, all CARS incidents for the testing program associated with the user's selected role will be displayed on the CARS screen. To narrow down the results, select or enter any specific criteria and select the [SEARCH] button.
2. Users with the superintendent role need to select CAASPP or ELPAC from the "Program" drop-down menu and, optionally, any other specific criteria and then select the [SEARCH] button to display relevant CARS incidents.
Select the [Details] magnifying glass icon in the Actions column to review associated details about the CARS incident.
Select either the [Acknowledge] or [Acknowledge and Archive] button after reviewing the incident summary to ensure that no further emails regarding this specific CARS incident are received.

Note: The flagging of a student response is not an attempt to make any sort of psychological evaluation or to determine whether the situation described is real, imagined, or exaggerated. Neither the California Department of Education (CDE) nor ETS has any authority to follow up on these responses. The CDE does not receive copies of student responses.

For further support, use the Get Answers lookup tool or contact your assigned LEA Success Agent .

Sincerely,

California Outreach Team

CAASPP website and ELPAC website