TELPAS Test Dates: The 2027 and 2026 Testing Windows

TEA sets one statewide window each spring. The TELPAS 2027 dates are February 15 to March 26, 2027; the 2026 window ran from February 16 to March 27, 2026. Every TELPAS activity for the year happens inside it: the online listening and speaking test and the online reading and writing test for grades 2–12, the holistic ratings teachers complete for kindergarten and grade 1, and TELPAS Alternate.

The window is roughly six weeks long, but a student does not spend six weeks testing. Each school schedules its own sessions for the two online tests inside the window, around its other commitments.

Because the schedule is local, the only reliable source for your child's test days is the school. Ask the teacher or the campus testing coordinator. Many schools send a letter or a message home before testing; if you have not had one by early February, it is reasonable to ask.

The weeks before testing are the most useful time for practical preparation. That does not mean drilling. It means making sure nothing about the test is a surprise. Our guide on how to prepare for TELPAS goes through it domain by domain.

The test dates themselves are fixed, so plan around them. If a family trip, a medical appointment or a religious observance falls in the window, tell the school early. Schools generally have time within the window to schedule around absences, but only if they know.

• Try TEA's official practice tests at txpt.cambiumtds.com/student. They run in the same interface students use on test day, including the recording screen for speaking.
• Make sure your child is comfortable speaking into a headset microphone and hearing their own voice played back. The TELPAS speaking test guide describes the kinds of prompts.
• Work through some free TELPAS practice tests for your child's grade, such as the grades 6–7 TELPAS reading and writing practice test.
• For grades 2–12, practice typing short paragraphs. The written responses are typed; the TELPAS writing test guide explains what they ask for.
• If your child has accommodations, check with the school that they are in place for TELPAS, not just for classroom work.

Students in grades 2–12 take the listening and speaking test and the reading and writing test on the computer at school, in sessions arranged by the school. A test administrator runs each session.

In kindergarten and grade 1 there is no test session. Teachers who have completed TEA's holistic rating training rate each student in all four domains, based on what they have observed in class, and submit the ratings within the window.

Students taking TELPAS Alternate are rated within the same window.

A few ordinary things genuinely help in testing weeks: a regular bedtime, breakfast, and arriving on time. It is also worth telling a child plainly that TELPAS is not a class grade and does not decide whether they move up a grade. Nervous children often do better once they know that.

Once testing closes, the online tests are scored. Multiple-choice and other machine-scorable items are scored automatically. Speaking responses and written responses are scored against rubrics: in grades 4–12 writing and in speaking, by an automated scoring engine with trained human scorers also scoring at least a quarter of responses; in grades 2–3 writing, entirely by human scorers.

Your district will share your child's results with you. Districts handle that in different ways and on their own schedules, so ask your school when to expect the report if you have not heard. When it arrives, the guide to TELPAS scores and levels explains how to read it.

After results arrive, the school's Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) uses them, together with a reading test result and a teacher's evaluation, in its annual review of each emergent bilingual student, including decisions about TELPAS reclassification.

The 2026–27 and 2027–28 school years are transition years. New English Language Proficiency Standards, adopted in 2024, take effect in classrooms from 2026–27. During these two years TELPAS keeps its current blueprints and its four proficiency levels, and assesses only the standards shared between the old and new ELPS. TEA plans a new assessment for 2028–29.

The spring 2027 test should therefore look familiar to anyone who has seen the recent TELPAS released tests. Windows for later years are announced by TEA on its testing calendar; this page will only list dates once they are published.

TEA publishes testing calendars for all state assessments, including TELPAS, and links to them from its TELPAS page at tea.texas.gov/assessment-and-accountability/telpas. If a date on this page ever disagrees with TEA's calendar, TEA's calendar is right. This site is independent and is not connected to TEA.