Ludger Woessmann responds to criticism of his recent analysis of PISA results. Readers will recall that this analysis leads him to argue that merit pay systems improve outcomes. Education Next author calls the criticism "misleading" and suggests that the NEPC "critically reviews many studies, no matter how well executed, if the findings from that study do not lend support to positions the unions have taken." Woessmann's response is, essentially, to call his conclusion "a description fact" (that "after statistically controlling for several variables, the author concludes that nations with some form of merit pay system have, on average, higher reading and math scores on this international test") rather than a "claim" that needs to be proven. Yes, it is a fact that Woessmann's study had the conclusion it did. Whether this conclusion is warranted, however, is not addressed in this response.
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