School meritocracy: a multidimensional construct? Evidence from the development of a school meritocracy scale by exploratory and confirmatory bifactor modeling

Key Points

• The study develops a new scale for meritocracy that highlights its complex nature in educational settings.
• Using exploratory and confirmatory bifactor modeling, the scale's construct validity is established through rigorous analysis.
• This innovative approach addresses the challenges of measuring meritocracy in schools with multiple dimensions.
• The findings suggest that a nuanced understanding of meritocracy is essential for educational policy and practice.