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This paper presents a static analysis of laminated composites plates by employing a novel higher-order shear deformation theory with stretching effect (quasi-3D HSDT). This theory accounts for both transverse shear and normal strains effects by a parabolic variation of all displacements through the thickness and satisfies the stress-free boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factor. The displacement field of the proposed theory has only five unknowns, which is even less than the other existing high-order shear deformation plate theories. The principle of virtual works is used to derive the governing equations and boundary conditions. The closed form solutions are obtained by using Navier procedure for cross-ply laminated composite plates subjected to sinusoidal load for simply supported boundary conditions. The numerical results are compared with those predicted by other theories to show the effects of shear deformation and thickness stretching on displacement and stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]