PAL Network’s new common assessment for SDG 4.1.1a

How is it administered?

ICAN–ICAR is primarily household-based and administered one-on-one (paper-based). The assessment targets children between 4 and 10 years old to understand the continuum of learning between preschool and the first years of primary school.

SDG 4.1.1a and minimum proficiency

ICAN–ICAR was designed with SDG 4.1.1a monitoring in mind. Results classify children according to whether they meet minimum proficiency in reading and numeracy.

ICAN and ICAR are the PAL Network’s International Common Assessment of Numeracy and Reading. This is a large-scale assessment project producing globally comparable data on children’s foundational learning. They are household-based assessments designed to support comparable measurement of foundational numeracy and reading.

Use the map to explore the languages of assessment and see participating African countries. 

Get the data

The ICAN–ICAR 2025 microdata are publicly available through the DataFirst data site.
Access the Dataset

AFLEARN resources

An introductory course using ICAN–ICAR data

What is assessed?

ICAR reading: Foundational reading tasks are aligned with early-grade reading expectations and designed for use across languages and contexts. The assessment comprises the following components, with the percentage contribution of each component shown below.

  • Listening and Comprehension (17%)
  • Reading Comprehension (50%)
  • Oral Reading Accuracy (33%)

ICAN numeracy: Foundational numeracy tasks covering core early mathematics skills are included. The assessment comprises the following components, with the percentage contribution of each component shown below.

  • Number & Operations (23%)
  • Measurement (19%)
  • Geometry (8%)
  • Statistics and Probability (6%)
  • Algebra (3%)