STAIRS and Appeals Basics

The Security Incidents and Appeals Procedure Guide is intended for CAASPP and ELPAC LEA and site coordinators. The STAIRS/Appeals process in TOMS must be used to report and resolve testing incidents that occur during the administration of the computer-based assessments and PPTs for CAASPP and ELPAC. STAIRS functionality is not applicable for any interim assessments.

This manual provides the reasons why a STAIRS case should be submitted. Additional detailed, step-by-step instructions for submitting, reviewing, withdrawing, and searching STAIRS cases and Appeals are described in the STAIRS/Appeals chapter of the TOMS User Guide.

After a STAIRS case is submitted, the submitter receives a confirmation email containing a case number; the LEA coordinator is copied if the STAIRS case is submitted by the site coordinator. MyTOMS at a Glance alerts the LEA if there are STAIRS cases in Draft status that need to be submitted.

Some incidents may require that an Appeal be submitted to reset, restore, reopen, rescore (Initial ELPAC only), invalidate (CAASPP only), or request a grace period extension for an assessment. The type of Appeal is determined and submitted when the STAIRS case is submitted. Some incidents do not require an Appeal. STAIRS is available only during the test administration window. The CDE or the LEA Success Agent will review the submitted STAIRS case to determine whether the LEA needs to take additional action.