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The purpose of this communication is to provide notification that the ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ is requesting a waiver extension for the 2025–2026 school year of the federal cap on the number of students who can be assessed with the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) Alternate 2. Texas was granted a waiver for the 2024–2025 school year in April 2025. Prior to submitting the waiver extension request to the United States Department of Education (USDE), the draft waiver, 2025–2026 Texas One Percent Cap Waiver Request, is available for public comment and posted on the STAAR Alternate 2 Resources webpage. 

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), section 1111(b)(2)(D)(i)(I) prohibits a state from testing more than one percent of its students statewide with an alternate assessment aligned with alternate academic achievement standards (i.e., STAAR Alternate 2). The USDE allows states that anticipate exceeding the one percent cap to submit a waiver request. Texas is requesting a waiver extension from the USDE to exceed the one percent threshold for the 2025–2026 school year.

Public Comment Period

TEA is accepting public comments regarding the need to request a waiver to exceed the one percent statewide threshold. Please provide comments via email to assessmentwaiver@tea.texas.gov. The public comment period begins Thursday, November 13, 2025, and ends Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. (CT). 

Please forward this notification to all interested persons. 

Contact

If you have questions about the information in this communication, submit your inquiries to TEA using the .