The SEA-PLM 2019 Assessment Framework outlines an approach in assessing the domains of mathematics, reading, writing and global citizenship. It describes the constructs to be measured and puts forward a concept for the contextual questionnaires. It outlines the design and content of the assessment instruments and describes how measures generated by those instruments relate to the constructs.

The framework:
- Gives a common language to stakeholders for discussion of the domain areas;
- Guides test development, ensuring that the instruments serve the intended purposes and cover the domains in the way agreed at the outset;
- Ensures that, where continuity from one year or one grade level to another is of concern, there is an articulated plan for the assessment. As a result, it provides stability or, where change is desired, it can be made explicit and implemented deliberately; and
- Communicates the purpose and features of the assessment program beyond the immediate stakeholders and, consequently, helps in the public interpretation of the results.