2025 Theses Doctoral

The Rise and Evolution of Early Grade Foundational Learning

Chin, Mia A.

The rise of the early grade foundational learning reform over the past two decades is emblematic of one of the most prolific and relevant transformations in international and comparative education. In 2005, the early grade foundational learning phenomenon premiered, starting with a single policy instrument—the early grade reading assessment—which diffused across 59 low- and middle-income countries and triggered the development of a reform package geared toward improving early grade education.

Between 2005 and 2024, governments across the globe pivoted national education priorities and redirected resources to strengthen early grade education through improved teacher professional development and teaching and learning materials. Over time, the reform evolved from a concerted focus on literacy to include numeracy and socioemotional learning. Early grade foundational learning remains one of the most important education reforms promoted by governments, the United Nations, donors, and international organizations. Despite the mass diffusion of the early grade reading assessment and tremendous uptake in early grade foundational learning reforms, little to no research has examined why and how the phenomenon emerged.

It is essential to examine this phenomenon through a transnational lens, exploring the macro and meso levels of diffusion and adoption. This dissertation employs a mixed-methods, multilevel explanatory analysis to examine the origin, diffusion, evolution, and adoption of early grade foundational learning reforms and policies at the global, transnational, and national levels. This research is guided by three primary questions that examine global diffusion and the subsequent evolution and adoption of reforms at the transnational and national levels. This study integrates both quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify diffusion patterns and qualitative analysis of documents and in-depth interviews to explain and deepen those quantitative findings.

First, I explore the origin and global diffusion of the early grade reading assessment. In particular, I examine the roles of the World Bank, USAID, and RTI in the development of the early grade reading assessment and argue that the mass diffusion and adoption of the assessment triggered the development of the early grade foundational learning reform. Second, I demonstrate how the reform developed through a three-stage process (assessment, pilot intervention, and scaled reform) and evolved in scope over three waves to include literacy, numeracy, and socioemotional learning. Third, I examine a country case study of Jordan to examine how political, social, and economic factors influenced the local adoption of the early grade foundational learning reform.

While this dissertation includes the roles of various entities in shaping the early grade foundational learning reform, it primarily focuses on the role of USAID and its implementing partners. Prior to its closure in 2025, USAID was one of the most–if not the most–prominent drivers of the early grade foundational learning reforms globally. Given the disproportionate amount of United States government foreign assistance that fueled education policymaking in low- and middle-income countries, USAID’s basic education policies dramatically shaped the development and the evolution of the early grade foundational learning reform model. At the time of data collection for this dissertation research in 2024, USAID was still financing and implementing basic education programs. However, during the final stages of this dissertation, USAID was dismantled, and nearly all early grade foundational learning programs were terminated by March 2025. As a result, this study has taken on an unexpected historiographic dimension, documenting USAID’s role in education policymaking and the diffusion of early grade foundational learning reforms it funded and promoted.

The early grade foundational reform remains one of the most consequential and influential education policy reforms to circulate globally, transforming education systems, and improving early grade literacy and numeracy outcomes. While this dissertation examines the origin, diffusion, and translation of the reform, it is essential to reiterate the monumental role that foreign assistance played in advancing early grade foundational learning worldwide.