Testing Windows

For the 2026–27 school year, STAAR administrations will be offered during the following two-week testing windows:

• November 30–December 11: STAAR EOC assessments

• April 5–16: STAAR RLA assessments

• April 12–23: STAAR science and social studies assessments

• April 19–30: STAAR mathematics assessments

• June 14–25: STAAR EOC assessments

The primary testing week for STAAR administrations is week 1 of each two-week testing window. However, a district coordinator may schedule a STAAR assessment on any school day during the applicable content-area testing window.

District coordinators may schedule the administration of a specific assessment on different days or on multiple days within the assigned two-week testing window. For example, a campus may offer the Algebra I assessment on Tuesday and Thursday of week 1. If a district or campus administers a specific assessment on different days or over multiple days, district testing personnel must maintain the security of the assessment to ensure that the test content remains valid throughout the testing window.

TEA highly recommends that district coordinators plan to test during the first week of each content-area testing window to ensure that all students have an opportunity to test in case of technical, weather, or emergency issues and to allow for make-up testing. TEA also recommends that data be submitted in RE as soon as possible after students have finished testing to ensure processing before the window closes and that district coordinators reserve the last two to three days of each two-week testing window to complete data submission in RE and to enter score codes and accommodations in TIDE. For EOC assessments, TAKS/TAAS/TEAMS and high school equivalency program information must also be entered in TIDE. District coordinators must verify that student demographic information and additional student information fields in TIDE are complete and accurate and must verify that all students have been accounted for in TIDE and that all assessments submitted in RE have been completed and processed by 11:59 p.m. (CT) on the last day of the two-week testing window for each content-area grouping.

To address conflicts arising from already scheduled University Interscholastic League (UIL) activities, TEA is providing the following allowances for districts with such conflicts during week 1, the primary week of testing. Districts should:

• administer make-up tests to individual students who participate in the UIL activity, or

• administer the assessment during week 2 if more than half the students are involved in the UIL activity.

Testing Time

Students are expected to complete assessments within three to four hours. Students must complete the assessment within the same school day unless the student has been approved for an extra day or experiences a health-related interruption during testing. Any student who needs additional time may continue testing until the end of the regularly scheduled school day, for up to seven hours.

Campus coordinators should begin testing within one hour of the start of the school day. District testing personnel should exercise judgment about allowing a student to join a session after testing has started, as those students might not have sufficient time to complete the assessment before the end of the school day and will not be able to complete any started tests the following day. It is not necessary to track the time for lunch or breaks, but students may not spend more than seven hours working on the assessment. For the June administration, an earlier end to the regularly scheduled school day does not require students to stop testing, and they may be allowed to test up to seven hours, if needed.

Consolidation of Testers

Students who are not testing or who have completed testing should be participating in a regular or alternate class schedule in which enrichment activities (e.g., instruction beyond the required TEKS) are being provided. Students who are still testing after about four hours should be consolidated to continue testing.

• District testing coordinators must ensure that each campus administering STAAR has a plan in place to consolidate students who are still testing after a certain point.

• Campus plans may vary based on the total number of students testing, the subject being tested, the availability of staff and space, the class schedule used on testing days, etc.

• TEA recommends consolidation plans be documented and included in campus training.

• Test administrators must inform students that, at some point, students who are still testing will be grouped together and students who have completed testing will join a regular or alternate class schedule.

• Using proctored test sessions allows a campus administrator to determine when enough students have completed testing and consolidation of students who are still testing should occur.

Potential Scenarios

Below are some potential testing scenarios district testing personnel may use when developing their local consolidation plans. 

Scenario 1:

For campuses with early lunch schedules, students who are still testing may be consolidated and monitored during the lunch period. After lunch, students can be redistributed across classrooms and available staff to continue testing based on group size and staffing capacity. 

Scenario 2:

A campus with 90 students testing in three classrooms with 30 students per room and three test administrators may consolidate students when about one-third or 30 of the students have completed testing.

• Additional campus personnel (e.g., campus administrators, aides, monitors) should gather the 30 students who have completed testing in the gym, library, or cafeteria.

• The 60 students still testing can then be consolidated into approximately two classrooms with two test administrators.

• This permits the 30 students who have completed testing to move to the now empty classroom with the one educator who is no longer administering a test.

Scenario 3:

A campus with 450 students testing in 15 classrooms with 30 students per room and 15 test administrators may consolidate students when about one-half or 225 of the students have completed testing.

• Additional campus personnel (e.g., campus administrators, aides, monitors) should gather the 225 students who have completed testing in the gym, library, or cafeteria.

• The 225 students still testing can then be consolidated into approximately eight classrooms with eight test administrators.

• This permits the 225 students who have completed testing to move to the now empty seven classrooms with the seven educators who are no longer administering tests.

• This process could be repeated after approximately one-half or 112 of the remaining students have completed testing.

Scenario 4:

A campus with 900 students testing in 30 classrooms with 30 students per room and 30 test administrators may consolidate students when about one-third or 300 of the students have completed testing.

• Additional campus personnel (e.g., campus administrators, aides, monitors) should gather the 300 students who have completed testing in the gym, library, or cafeteria.

• The 600 students still testing can then be consolidated into approximately 20 classrooms with 20 test administrators.

• This permits the 300 students who have completed testing to move to the now empty 10 classrooms with the 10 educators who are no longer administering tests.

• This process could be repeated after another third or 300 of the students have completed testing.

Scenario 5:

A campus with 1,200 students testing in 40 rooms with 30 students per room and 40 test administrators may consolidate students when about one-quarter or 300 of the students have completed testing.

• Additional campus personnel (e.g., campus administrators, aides, monitors) should gather the 300 students who have completed testing in the gym, library, or cafeteria.

• The 900 students still testing can then be consolidated into approximately 30 classrooms with 30 test administrators.

• This permits the 300 students who have completed testing to move to the now empty 10 classrooms with the 10 educators who are no longer administering tests.

• This process could be repeated after another fourth or 300 of the students have completed testing, then repeated again after another fourth.​

Late-Arriving Students

District testing personnel must determine if a late-arriving student will have sufficient time to test during that school day or if the student should test on another day within the testing window, keeping in mind the following requirements:

• Each student must be allowed sufficient time to take the assessment.

• The test directions must be read to late-arriving students.

Make-up Testing

District testing personnel should offer make-up opportunities for all STAAR assessments to students who are absent on the scheduled assessment day.

District testing personnel must provide a make-up testing opportunity for students who are absent due to the observance of a religious holy day or period of observance. Religious holy days and periods of observance are defined as days observed by a religion whose places of worship would be exempt from property taxation under Texas Tax Code §11.20. District testing personnel are required to provide alternate test dates within the testing window to administer a STAAR assessment to a student who is absent from school to observe a religious holy day or period of observance for no more than two days based on the occurrence of a single religious holy day or period of observance.

District testing personnel must maintain the security of the assessments during make-up testing to ensure that the test content remains valid throughout the testing window.

Students Who Experience a Health-Related Interruption During an Assessment

A student who experiences a health-related interruption and leaves the testing environment for the day may complete the assessment, as needed, on a different day within the scheduled testing window. The Test Delivery System (TDS) will lock student responses eight hours after an online assessment has been paused. Students who continue testing on another day will be able to view all questions but will not be able to respond to questions they have previously interacted with (i.e., selected or deselected an answer option or entered text into the response box of a constructed-response question), as these questions will NOT be unlocked.

Students Who Leave Campus During an Assessment for Other Reasons

A student who leaves the testing environment for reasons such as a medical or other type of appointment will not be able to resume testing. Assessments started during an online testing window will automatically default to a score code of “S” for “Score,” but district testing personnel must determine whether the assessment should be coded “O” for “Other” because it is not a valid representation of the student’s knowledge and skills.