The ISEE Assessment finds that meritocracy as the great equalizer perpetuates educational, social and economic exclusion and proposes shifting from static merit-based assessment to potentiality¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r2 · q1
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? The assessment argues that meritocratic allocation of educational opportunity has produced exclusion rather than equality, citing structural barriers such as unequal access to resources and non-neutral assessments. → Singh 2025

Evidence¶

Singh 2025¶

Singh, N. C., Gilead, T., Chakraborty, A., Van Herwegen, J., van Atteveldt, N., Borst, G., Bugden, S., Jasinska, K., Kay, J., Pugh, K., & Duraiappah, A. (2025). A new education agenda based on The International Science and Evidence Based Education Assessment. npj Science of Learning 10, 24. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00288-w

q1 · i? · theoretical · r2

Analytical argument in the Beyond Meritocracy section: the assessment concludes meritocracy has produced "educational, social, and economic exclusion in the guise of credentialism", termed hereditary meritocracy, citing literature on structural barriers. No effect sizes are printed.

"It has created a“new form of educational, social, and economic exclusion in the guise of credentialism and exacerbating inequitable flourishing outcomes ” or what is known as “hereditary meritocracy”"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The ISEE Assessment proposes potentiality, operationalized as an individual's learning rate measured through dynamic formative assessments of personal learning trajectories, in place of merit-based assessment — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Education focused on economic growth has produced upward trends in literacy and credentials alongside downward trends in agency, humanistic values, relationships, and civic engagement, motivating a shift toward human flourishing — related
• Data construction can embed social values and patterns of privilege into data itself, perpetuating testimonial injustice — related
• In a pedagogical space, epistemic injustice might be activated when teachers' identity prejudice leads them to give a student less credit, and the curriculum can block or enable students' understanding and expression of their social experiences — related
• Contrary to claims that AI will automatically engender a more democratic, equal, and sustainable world, the editorial argues these technologies tend to exacerbate existing inequalities, environmental degradation, and labour precarity — related