Unlocking Foundational Learning: A Deep Dive into the ICAN-ICAR Project

6 in 10 children and adolescents globally are not achieving minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics. Of these, two-thirds are actually in school, but not learning to read a simple sentence or solving basic math problems (UESCO GEM Report, 2025). The global learning crisis is real and the first step to solving it is making learning visible. That’s why communities around the world are coming together through ICAN-ICAR to generate trusted evidence on foundational learning that drives action.

The International Common Assessments of Numeracy (ICAN) and Reading (ICAR) project is a significant initiative aimed at tackling the global learning crisis. It is spearheaded by the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network, a South-South partnership of 17 organisations, with support from various international, regional and national organizations. This blog post provides an update on this crucial project.

Why is this project so crucial?

The ICAN-ICAR project is a direct response to a profound global challenge: the learning crisis. Despite increased school enrollment, a staggering 617 million children and adolescents worldwide are not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics (UNESCO UIS, 2025).

The project’s core mission is to improve foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) outcomes for children. It aims to support countries in tracking their progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.1.1(a), which measures the proportion of children in Grades 2 and 3 who achieve at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics. By generating reliable evidence, the initiative seeks to inform policy and practice, drive meaningful educational reforms, and instigate accountability at the community level. Furthermore, ICAN-ICAR is designed to provide cross-country data for global education monitoring and to build assessment capacity within PAL member countries.

What exactly is the ICAN-ICAR Project?

The Project involves two core assessment tools: the International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN) and the International Common Assessment of Reading (ICAR).

• ICAN focuses on the academic domain of numeracy with 36 items in its current version. It assesses key numeracy domains such as Number and Operations, Measurement, Geometry, Statistics and Probability, and Algebra.
• ICAR measures foundational language and literacy skills, specifically Listening Comprehension, Decoding (Oral Reading Accuracy), and Reading Comprehension, and includes 30 items in total.

The project employs a unique and robust methodology:

• Paper-based and one-to-one administration: Assessments are conducted orally, one-on-one with each child by trained citizen volunteers, typically in their homes. This ensuresinclusivity by reaching both in-school and out-of-school children.
• Adaptive design: The assessment incorporates “stop rules,” meaning children of lower abilities who get easier items incorrect are not burdened with harder, later items, resulting in a missing-by-design structure for some items.
• Parallel booklets: Two versions of the assessment were created with questions of identical difficulty. This was done to ensure that if multiple children in the same household are assessed, their results are not influenced by prior exposure to the questions.
• Psychometrically rigorous: The analysis applies Item Response Theory (IRT) to ensure statistical robustness. A particular focus is placed on differential item functioning (DIF) to ensure fairness across groups, including age, sex, and location.
• Contextual data: Beyond academic assessment, the project collects rich information on socio-economic indicators at the child, family/household, and community levels through contextual questionnaires.
• Alignment with global standards: Both ICAN and ICAR are explicitly designed to align with the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) and SDG 4.1.1(a) reporting requirements, ensuring global comparability and construct validity.

Looking ahead, the project is committed to becoming more inclusive, with plans to incorporate modules on social and emotional learning (SEL), adapt tools for Education in Emergencies (EiE) contexts, and introduce adaptations for children with special needs, particularly those with visual and hearing impairments.

Where is this initiative making an impact?

The project operates across a broad geographical area, reflecting the PAL Network’s reach:

• Field Testing (FT): The data was analyzed from a field test conducted in 13 PAL Network Countries, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
• Live Data Collection: The data is currently being collected from 12 countries – this includes all participating countries from FT except India.
• National Representativeness: The sampling design aims to provide nationally representative data including rural and urban settings.
• Linguistic Diversity: To ensure broad applicability, the assessment tools went through a rigorous process of translation, contextual adaptation and some items were rewritten. The assessment tools are now available in 17 languages, including Bangla, Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, English, Kiswahili, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and 6 regional languages from Senegal (Wolof, Pulaar, Seereere, Mandinke, Soninke, and Diola), 1 each from Mali (Bamanakan) and Pakistan (Sindhi).

When is this all happening?

The ICAN-ICAR project has a clear timeline, building on years of foundational work:

Preparatory Phase (2023-24): This period was dedicated to the systematic review and alignment of assessment tools against the Global Proficiency Framework and global reporting criteria. The project’s comprehensive assessment blueprint was updated based on these reviews.

First Quarter 2025 (Q1 2025): A crucial consensus-building workshop was held with all country leaders and project management teams (PMTs). The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) also officially confirmed that the ICAN and ICAR tools meet the global reporting criteria for SDG 4.1.1(a).

Second Quarter 2025 (Q2 2025): Following a virtual PMT training on processes and tools, field trials were successfully completed across 13 countries, assessing over 7,000 children aged 5-16. Preparations began for an in-person PMT training in Nairobi in early July and a Pairwise Comparison Method (PCM) workshop in late August.

Third Quarter 2025 (Q3 2025): In-person PMT trainings conducted in early July, in parallel to rigorous psychometric and DIF analyses of field trial data to finalize assessment tools. Country-level Training of Trainers (ToTs) and enumerators took  place through July and August following live data collection. The  national data collection is expected to be completed by September 30, 2025.

Reporting (Late 2025): The analysis phase is slated for October, culminating in the tentative launch of the first global report on November 25, 2025.

Future Cycles: This 2024-2025 cycle is the first of two planned assessment cycles by 2030, reflecting a long-term commitment to tracking SDG progress. Next cycle is expected to be in 2027-2028.

By Whom is this incredible work being done?

This ambitious project is a collaborative effort involving a diverse group of organizations and individuals:

The People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network: The primary driver of the initiative, the PAL Network is a South-South partnership comprising 17 member organizations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 11 of these organizations from South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan), Eastern and Southern Africa (Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda), West Africa (Mali and Senegal), and Americas (Mexico and Nicaragua) are conducting large-scale, nationally representative, household-based data collection in their respective countries. Botswana is conducting a sub-national school-based data collection in one region of the country.

Technical Partner: The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) serves as a crucial technical partner, providing advisory support in test development, design, and sampling. ACER has been instrumental in reviewing and aligning the ICAN and ICAR tools with global criteria and collaborates on psychometric analyses.

Key Funders: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is a primary financial supporter of this project under their Data for Foundational Learning (D4FL) programme. Other substantial financial partners include Echidna Giving and Hempel Foundation.

Collaborating Partners for Broader Impact:

UNICEF: Partnering with PAL Network on a linking study to connect the scales of ICAN-ICAR with UNICEF’s Foundational Learning Measurement (FLM 2.0) module in several countries, including Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, to ensure data comparability.

Global Partnership for Education (GPE): Engaging with PAL Network to explore using ICAN-ICAR data to support SDG 4.1.1a tracking, especially in countries lacking baseline data.

PORTICUS and Education Cannot Wait (ECW): Co-funding efforts to integrate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) assessment and ensure inclusivity for children in emergency settings, with adapted tools being piloted in Bangladesh and Uganda.

SightSavers: Supporting the ICAN adaptation for children with visual and hearing impairments, building on prior work in Pakistan.

On-the-Ground Implementation: Local civil society organizations (CSOs) and a vast network of trained citizen volunteers are essential to the project, conducting the one-on-one household assessments and fostering community engagement. National governments also play a key role in discussions around sampling frameworks and obtaining necessary permissions.

The ICAN-ICAR project is a testament to the power of collective action in tackling the global learning crisis. While the data generated is crucial for SDG reporting and holding leaders accountable, our commitment extends beyond mere metrics. We champion the principle of measuring all, ensuring no child is left behind, whether in or out of school, or in the most difficult of circumstances. We believe in measuring early, capturing foundational skills at a critical developmental stage to enable timely intervention. Most importantly, we are dedicated to measuring well, using a robust, rigorous, and community-driven methodology that provides credible and actionable insights. By doing so, the PAL Network is not only contributing to a global knowledge base but is also empowering communities to drive the systemic change needed to ensure every child, everywhere, acquires the foundational skills they deserve.

Blogpost by Muhammad Usman
Program Manager – Assessment