Per Texas Education Code §39.02342, districts may provide a paper administration of STAAR to up to three percent of their enrolled students who are eligible for and administered each assessment. For example, if a district has 500 students who are eligible for the STAAR grade 3 mathematics and RLA assessments, the district testing coordinator may indicate up to 15 students as eligible for a paper by request administration of the STAAR grade 3 mathematics assessment and up to 15 students for the STAAR grade 3 RLA assessment. Similarly, if a district has 300 students who are eligible for the December STAAR Algebra I assessment, the district coordinator may indicate up to nine students as eligible for a December paper by request administration of that assessment.

Districts have the flexibility to implement this optional process and gather paper administration requests as appropriate for their school. However, districts must accept requests on a first come, first served basis.

Prepare for Paper by Request Administrations

District coordinators must:

❏ Review Eligibility Requirements

District testing personnel may provide a paper administration of STAAR to any student whose parent, guardian, or teacher in the applicable subject area requests a paper version. The parent, guardian, or teacher must submit the request for a paper administration of STAAR to the district no later than September 15 for the December administration and no later than December 1 for the spring administration. The only criterion that is required to be met is submitting the request to the district by the deadline.

The following assessments are available for students participating in a paper by request administration:

STAAR grades 3–8 and EOC regular print only
STAAR Spanish grades 3–5 regular print only

It is important to note that the number of students who receive a paper by request administration is separate and distinct from the students who are eligible for a special paper administration of STAAR. Students who are eligible for a special paper administration of STAAR are not counted in the maximum three percent of students who are eligible to receive a paper by request administration, but both groups of students are included in the total number of eligible students enrolled in the district who are administered each assessment. If a student requires a paper version of the assessment with embedded supports, large print, or braille, refer to the Special Administration of an Assessment page.

❏ Designate Eligible Students

For a student to receive a paper by request administration, the district coordinator or the district testing assistant must ensure that the Paper By Request field is set to “Yes” no later than October 4, 2024, for the December administration and December 13, 2024, for the spring administration. Paper by request orders for the spring administration of STAAR will carry over to the June administration.

Due Date for District Personnel to Submit STAAR Paper by Request Orders.png

The Paper By Request field can be changed only by the district coordinator or the district testing assistant. This field can be manually changed for each student using the Add Student or View/Edit/Export Student tasks from the Student Information module in TIDE. It can also be changed in a bulk upload using the template available through the Upload Additional Student Fields task. If a user with a different role submits this template with values for the Paper By Request field, the submission will be rejected with a validation error.

If more than three percent of the number of eligible students enrolled in the district who are administered each assessment are marked for a paper by request administration, Texas Testing Support will contact the district testing coordinator.

To change a student’s test mode, district personnel must select “Paper” in the appropriate Test Mode field. District personnel must then select “Regular Print” (as this is the only format available for paper by request administrations) in the STAAR & TELPAS Paper Test Format field. District and campus testing personnel must set the test mode and paper test format by the deadline listed in the Calendar of Events.

A screenshot in TIDE highlighting the location of the Paper By Request field.

Figure 15. This screenshot highlights the location of Paper By Request field in TIDE.

For a student who is eligible for a paper by request administration of STAAR Spanish, district or campus testing personnel must enter “Spanish” in the Presentation field. This will ensure that the Spanish version of STAAR is available in DEI to submit the student’s responses.

Submitting Student Responses

For paper by request administrations, students should be instructed to record their responses in their test booklets. Authorized district staff members must enter student responses in DEI for the responses to be scored. District personnel are responsible for submitting student responses in DEI by 11:59 p.m. (CT) on the last day of each two-week testing window. Refer to the specific test administration instructions and the Directions for Submitting Student Responses in DEI page for more information.