An experimental study has been carried out to reveal the shear-bond failure mechanism of composite deck slabs. Thirteen full scale simply supported composite slabs are studied experimentally, with the influence parameters like span length, slab depth, shear span length and end anchorage provided by steel headed studs. A dozen of strain gauges and LVDTs are monitored to capture the strain distribution and variation of the composite slabs. Before the onset of shear-bond slip, the longitudinal shear forces along the span are deduced and found to be proportional to the vertical shear force in terms of the shear-bond strength in the m-k method. The test results are appraised using the current design procedures. Based on the partial shear-bond connection at the ultimate state, an improved method is proposed by introducing two reduction factors to assess the moment resistance of a composite deck slab. The new method has been validated and the results predicted by the revised method agree well with the test results.