The "PIRLS 2016 Assessment Framework, 2nd Edition" provides the foundation for the three international assessments planned as part of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016: PIRLS, PIRLS Literacy, and ePIRLS. PIRLS represents the international standard for reading comprehension at the fourth grade. PIRLS Literacy, a less difficult version of PIRLS, is designed to assess foundational reading skills that are prerequisites for success on PIRLS. New in 2016, ePIRLS is an innovative assessment of online reading that makes it possible for countries to understand how successful the are in preparing fourth grade students to read, comprehend, and interpret online information. Chapter 1 (Ina V. S. Mullis, Michael O. Martin, Marian Sainsbury) presents the "PIRLS 2016 Reading Framework", and describes in some detail the major purposes of reading and processes of comprehension to be tested at the fourth grade. PIRLS assesses two purposes of reading that fourth grade students typically engage in: reading for literary experience, as well as to acquire and use information. PIRLS also assesses four broad processes of comprehension predominantly used by fourth grade readers: focus on and retrieve explicitly stated information, make straightforward inferences, interpret and integrate ideas and information, and evaluate and critique content and textual elements. Chapter 2 (Martin Hooper, Ina V. S. Mullis, Michael O. Martin) contains the "PIRLS 2016 Contextual Framework" describing the types of schooling situations and factors associated with students' development in reading literacy that will be investigated via the "PIRLS 2016 Encyclopedia" in addition to the questionnaires completed by students, their teachers, and schools. Finally, Chapter 3 (Michael O. Martin, Ina V. S. Mullis, Pierre Foy) provides an overview of the PIRLS and PIRLS Literacy test booklet and ePIRLS task designs, including general parameters for item development. The following are appended: (1) Acknowledgements; (2) Sample PIRLS Passages, Questions, and Scoring Guides; and (3) Sample PIRLS Literacy Passages, Questions, and Scoring Guides. [For the first edition, "PIRLS 2016 Assessment Framework." see ED545242.]