This ASCD Study Guide is designed to enhance your understanding and application of the information contained in Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization, an ASCD book written by Yong Zhao and published in September 2009.

You can use the study guide before or after you have read the book, or as you finish each chapter. The study questions provided are not meant to cover all aspects of the book, but, rather, to address specific ideas that might warrant further reflection.

Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading) Catching Up or Leading the Way.

Chapter 1. Recent Education Reform in the United States

1. What is the purpose of education?
2. What are the indicators of a high-quality education?
3. How has No Child Left Behind affected your work as an educator? How has it affected the work of your colleagues?
4. What do you think of the standards movement, particularly the recent efforts of the National Governors Association and the Chief State School Officers to develop national standards in math and language arts?

Chapter 2. From the Missile Gap to the Learning Gap: Myth, Fear, and the Evolution of Accountability

1. How can we better influence educational policies in the state and the nation?
2. What can be done to change the movement toward more standardization in American education?
3. What do you think of the Obama administration's education policy, especially the way it pushes for more standards, more charter schools, and connecting teacher pay with test scores through the Race to the Top funds?

Chapter 3. Why America Hasn't Lost Yet: Strengths of American Education

1. Recent and current reform policies threaten to erode American education's traditional strengths. How can we act to preserve them?
2. 2What are the weaknesses of American education and how can we address them without losing the strengths?
3. Does the support of pursuit of individual passions and interests lead to narrowing of student learning? Why or why not?

Chapter 4. Why China Isn't a Threat Yet: The Costs of High Scores

1. What are your reactions to the discussions about education in China in this book?
2. What can we learn from education reform efforts in China?
3. Although this chapter describes mostly the negative aspects of education in China, there are strengths in the Chinese education system as well. What do you think might be its strengths?
4. After reading this chapter, how do you think we should approach education in other countries?

Chapter 5. The Challenges, Part I: Globalization

1. How has globalization affected your life and your local community?
2. What are the reactions to globalization in your community?
3. In what ways do you think globalization will affect our children's future?
4. Does globalization necessarily mean global competition? Why?

Chapter 6. The Challenges, Part II: Technology

1. What challenges do you think technology presents to education?
2. How has technology affected you?
3. What are the possible implications of the rise of the virtual world for education?
4. Given the capacity of today's technology, how do you think schools can be reconfigured to support 21st century learning?
5. What are the reactions to globalization in your community?
6. In what ways do you think globalization will affect our children's future?
7. Does globalization necessarily mean global competition? Why?

Chapter 7. What Knowledge Is of Most Worth in the Global and Digital Economy?

1. What are the traditional strengths in terms of education, culture, and economy in your community?
2. What is unique about your community, or what do you have that others do not have in your community? What can you do better than others?
3. How do you preserve creativity and protect individual passions in students?
4. Can we have both standards and individual creativity?

Chapter 8. Global Competence and Digital Competence: The New Universal Knowledge and Skills

1. How do we teach our children to care about other people who live thousands of miles away?
2. How do we teach our children to respect differences and celebrate diversity?
3. How do we help our children, those called digital natives, to become responsible, creative, and productive citizens of the digital world?
4. What can schools do to help our children develop digital citizenship?

Chapter 9. Catching Up or Keeping the Lead: The Future of American Education

1. Is personalizing learning possible? What are the possible obstacles to developing personalized education for all children?
2. To what extent are your schools engaged globally? What are the challenges to transform your school into a global enterprise?
3. Is it possible to implement the "input-based accountability" proposal in this chapter? Why and why not?

Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization was written by Yong Zhao. This 230-page, 6" x 9" book (Stock #109076; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-0873-8) is available from ASCD for $20.95 (ASCD member) or $26.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2009 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) and press 2 for the Service Center. Or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.