A higher-oder laminated plate theory including the effect of transverse shear deformation is developed to calculate the gross response and the detailed stress distribution. The theory satisfies the continuity condition of transverse shear stress, and accounts for parabolic variation of the transverse shear stresses through the thickness of each layer. Exact closed-ply laminates are obtained and the results are compared with three-dimensional elasticity solutions and a simple higher-order theory solutions. The results of the present work exhibit acceptable accuracy when compared to the three-dimensional elasticity solutions.