STAAR assessments are administered online. An exception may be possible for a student who requires accommodations that cannot be provided online or for a student whose technology access precludes online testing. In these rare and unavoidable circumstances, a special paper administration of a STAAR assessment may be given. Refer to the Special Administration of an Assessment page of these Coordinator Resources for more information. An exception may also be possible for any student whose parent, guardian, or teacher requests a paper assessment. Refer to the Paper by Request Administration page for more information. Any student who is administered a STAAR assessment on paper must have his or her responses submitted through the Data Entry Interface (DEI).

For the 2023–2024 school year, STAAR administrations will be offered during the following two-week testing windows:

• December 5–15: STAAR EOC assessments

• April 9–19: STAAR RLA assessments

• April 16–26: STAAR science and social studies assessments

• April 23–May 3: STAAR mathematics assessments

• June 18–28: STAAR EOC assessments

The primary testing week for STAAR administrations is week 1 of each two-week testing window. However, a district or campus may schedule STAAR mathematics, RLA, science, and social studies assessments on any school day during the assigned testing windows, except for Monday of week 1. A district or campus may administer a STAAR assessment on the Monday of week 1 if administering the assessment on another instructional day would result in a significant administrative burden due to specific local conditions. District or campus testing personnel must notify the TEA Student Assessment Division by completing a Monday Testing Notice. Districts may administer assessments on the Monday of week 2 without submitting a notice to TEA. For this school year, testing personnel should use the same type of guidance that was provided last year regarding scheduling conflicts between spring STAAR testing windows and University Interscholastic League (UIL) postseason activities. Refer to the correspondence with districts dated January 12, 2023.

A district or campus 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 and campus 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 testing personnel plan to test during the first week and a half of the testing window to ensure that all students have an opportunity to test. District personnel should reserve the last two to three days of each testing window to submit data in DEI and to enter score codes, non-embedded supports, and medical exclusions in TIDE. For EOC assessments, TAKS/TAAS/TEAMS and high school equivalency program information must also be entered in TIDE. District personnel should verify that student demographic information and additional student information fields in TIDE are complete and accurate. In addition, district personnel should verify that all students have been accounted for by 11:59 p.m. (CT) on the last day of each testing window based on online assessment submissions and DEI submissions.

District testing personnel should schedule STAAR test sessions for three to four hours. Students who are still testing after four hours should be consolidated into a general testing area to continue testing. Students must complete the assessment within the same school day, and no test session may exceed seven hours. Exceptions exist for students who have a TEA-approved Extra Day designated support. It is not necessary to track the time for lunch or breaks, but students may not spend more than seven hours actually working on the assessment. TEA recommends that district testing personnel begin testing within one hour of the start of the school day. District personnel should exercise judgment about starting a test session after lunch for students who are late, as they may not have sufficient time to complete the assessment before the end of the school day.

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.

For students who are absent to observe a religious holy day or period of observance, districts must offer a make-up testing opportunity. 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. Districts 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 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 Become Sick During an Assessment

A student who becomes sick and leaves campus during the assessment 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 edit responses completed on a previous day as these questions will NOT be unlocked.