IEA INSIDER 2025
PIRLS 2026 and the Next Chapter of Global Reading Assessments
BY ANN KENNEDY & MATTHIAS VON DAVIER
As literacy demands and reading practices continue to evolve in response to digital innovations, assessments of reading literacy need to change as well. IEA’s PIRLS, the cornerstone of global reading assessment for fourth graders, is considering the shift to more online and digital reading while also recognizing the continued importance of printed materials in many classrooms worldwide. Of course, this must be done with a measured approach that considers the integrity of trends across cycles. A key feature of the fully digital assessment in PIRLS 2026 is the integration of ePIRLS, a computer-based assessment of online informational reading first introduced in 2016. ePIRLS is part of informational reading as described in the PIRLS 2026 Reading Assessment Framework . THE EVOLVING NATURE OF READING LITERACY While reading printed books remains central, particularly among younger children learning to read, digital reading has become more common in many classrooms around the world. Today, students are exposed to and engage with information with diverse text formats, navigating hyperlinks, interpreting multimedia, reflecting on information coming from multiple sources, and evaluating aspects of online sources such as points of view and authors’ intent. The literacy demands of these comprehension processes have reshaped what it means to be a capable reader. Proficient reading now includes not only understanding content but also locating and integrating relevant information across different media. As educational expectations shift accordingly, reading assessments must capture these complex skills. EXPANDING INFORMATIONAL READING IN PIRLS Informational reading in PIRLS 2026 reflects the breadth of reading demands with the inclusion of more traditional, single-source texts with a mostly linear structure as well as through tasks designed to reflect the type of reading students do in online environments. These online tasks
were first administered in a separate assessment, ePIRLS, as an extension of PIRLS 2016. The ePIRLS tasks require students to read simulated websites that include articles, diagrams, and multimedia elements and asks them to complete school-like assignments that involve searching for specific information, comparing ideas across sources, and evaluating the content. As PIRLS continued to transition to a digital assessment with PIRLS 2021, the ePIRLS tasks from 2016 were integrated within the assessment and two newly developed ePIRLS tasks were added. The successful integration of ePIRLS into the PIRLS 2021 analysis allowed reporting results from ePIRLS and digital PIRLS together on the long-standing trend scale, making it possible for aspects of online informational reading to be described within the PIRLS international benchmarks of reading achievement.
With the 2026 cycle, PIRLS continues its journey as the gold standard of international fourth grade reading assessment.
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