An ASCD Study Guide for What Makes a World-Class School and How We Can Get There

Many of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own or in a small group, but you might consider facilitating a larger group with others who have read (or are reading) What Makes a World-Class School and How We Can Get There.

Chapter 1. What Are World-Class Schools?

1. First and foremost, what does "world-class" really mean in education? What identifiers constitute the best schools in the world?
2. If you were in search of a school for your own child, how would you spot a world-class education and what would you look for?
3. What major global trends that you think are transforming the skills needed and reshaping the global demand for talent?
4. What qualities do you think a "world-class" school should have?
5. Think about your own school or district: What are the standards by which your organization can and should be judged as meeting world class standards? Would the answer to this question differ based on whether the reviewer were a business leader? An educator? A student?
6. As described in Figure 1.2, which pillar (quality, consistency, impact) of world-class schools do you think is the most difficult to accomplish for a school or district?
7. If you apply the pillars to your school or district, in which aspect does your school or district best meet world-class standards? In which aspect does it need to improve the most?

Chapter 2. Are U.S. Schools World-Class? Good News: The Direct Evidence

1. Do you think education in the United States is a success historically? What about in today's world? Why or why not?
2. According to your knowledge, what are the strengths of the public K–12 education in the United States when comparing it to other countries? What about your specific school or district?
3. What are the indicators can be used to directly measure the success of a nation's education system?
4. In terms of students' achievement on international assessments, what attributes are worth considering when we analyze the discrepancies of tests results across nations?
5. A key principle that is used throughout the book is to balance the use of widely-published international test data (e.g., TIMSS) with other relevant benchmarks for success (e.g., innovation). Can you think of additional measures that should be considered when discussing world-class schools?
6. What are benefits and liabilities of even considering international test data for comparative purposes?

Chapter 3. Are U.S. Schools World-Class? Good News: The Indirect Evidence

1. Do you agree with the indirect and long-term indicators of school success that are discussed in the chapter?
2. What are some additional indirect and long-term indicators that you think could impact the success of quality education in the United States? Why do you think these indirect indicators are important to education success?
3. Do you think it is important for schools and districts to develop students' innovativeness and creativity? Why or why not?
4. How does your school or district foster students' creativity at school?
5. From your perspective, is there a conflict between the emphasis on standardized tests in public schools and the importance on developing students' innovativeness and creativity? Why or why not?

Chapter 4. Are U.S. Schools World-Class? Bad News: The Direct Evidence

1. What are the overall weaknesses of the U.S. public education system? More importantly, what can we do about them?
2. Ideally a zero dropout rate is the gold standard for any school. In reality, is the dropout rate relatively high or low in your school or district? What are the possible reasons that result in this outcome?
3. What is the negative impact of low student graduation rates on students' personal lives and society's development?
4. According to numerous international assessment results, the United States has too few top and too many bottom performing students. What do you think are the possible reasons? And, more importantly, how can and should we tackle this two-sided problem?
5. How does your school or district educate both gifted and struggling students? Do you think your school or district should create more or better programs specific for these students? What about the students in the middle, that is, neither advanced or struggling?

Chapter 5. Are We World Class? Bad News: The Indirect Evidence

1. How are current world standards of excellence in education different from those 20 years ago? How well is the U.S. education system performing, in comparison with other education systems, against those emerging yardsticks?
2. What can a school do to prepare students with college and career readiness? Beyond the policies and programs, what really works?
3. How well do you think your school or district is doing in preparing students to be competitive in both a domestic and increasingly global market?
4. What do you think are the possible reasons associated with noted decreases in creative outputs for our graduates? What can we do while they are still in school to bolster their creativeness and innovation later in life?

Chapter 6. South Korea, Shanghai, and Singapore: Advances in Two Generations

1. In terms of school leadership (e.g. school administration and policy-making), what positive lessons can we learn from the experiences of South Korea, Shanghai, and Singapore?
2. In terms of developing teacher quality, what can we learn from their experiences?
3. What aspects of these educational systems should we avoid at all cost?

Chapter 7. Japan: A History of Sustained Success

1. In Japan, teachers obtain great respect and are paid highly relative to other professions, thus, teachers are more likely to be retained in the profession for a long period. What do you think are the possible reasons that teachers in the United States fail to gain greater respect and the possible reasons for high turnover rate of teachers?
2. How much of a role does teacher pay have to do with the lack of students selecting teaching as a career? How much does it have to do with teacher turnover once individuals are in the teaching profession?
3. Research has found that professional development (PD) that is unrelated to teacher content and pedagogy produces minimal results due to insensitivity to individual differences among teachers, lack of specificity and intensity, insufficient hands-on practice and feedback, little or no follow-up, not enough time built into teachers' schedules for PD, and not enough time and training built into school leaders' administrative tasks to support teacher learning. On average, districts in the United States are investing $18,000 per teacher per year in teacher improvement, however most teachers feel that their PD is not useful in helping them prepare for the changing nature of their job and is not a good use of their time. What lessons does Japan hold for the United States regarding teacher learning? Compared to your professional development experience, do you think the kind of in-service (i.e., on-the-job) teacher learning modalities in Japan can be transplanted to the United States? Why or why not?
4. Compared to the curriculum in your school or district, what are the advantages and disadvantages of a Japanese curriculum? Do you think it's possible to learn from Japan in curriculum design? Why or why not?

Chapter 8. Finland and the Netherlands: High-Performing Northern Europe

1. Do you think selecting the top students to be teachers is a possible way to improve teacher quality in the United States? Why or why not? If yes, how do we accomplish this feat?
2. Compared with Asian models that put emphasis on students' diligence, Finland's model advocates for "work smarter, not harder." While this characterization is a generalization, which model do you prefer, and what do you think teachers and students in the United States should embrace? Why?
3. Using students' academic achievement as a measure of teacher evaluation is controversial in the United States as well as many other parts of the world. Nonetheless, we seem to be in a global marketplace that values accountability, including in education. Interestingly, compared with the United States and a number of Asian (and even European) countries, Finland and the Netherlands provide examples of more teacher autonomy and less direct accountability within their education systems. What approach should be adopted in the United States: accountability, professional growth and autonomy, or a combination?

Chapter 9. Canada: Our Northern Neighbor

1. Facing the issue of cultural diversity, inclusion in Canada seems more effective than in the United States, especially in terms of bridging the gap among various student groups (e.g., native students and immigrant students). How does your school or district address student and cultural diversity? How could it be more effective?
2. How is the principal at your school selected? How important is this selection to the success of the school?
3. In what ways does your school or district emphasize building both human capital (i.e., the talent of individuals) and social capital (i.e., the collaborative power of the group)? How can you be more successful in both human and social capital building?
4. How well is the "trust relationship" established between your school or district with parents and the broader community? What can we borrow from Canadian school experiences in trust building?

Chapter 10. Getting to World-Class: What's Next?

1. There are numerous and diverse initiatives underway to improve education in the United States. How do these initiatives compare with the transformation that is taking place around the world?
2. If the local, state, or federal government were to invest more money in public education, which aspects of the school do you think have the most pressing need? Another way to ask this question is, if you were queen or king of the education work and had more money to improve schooling, how would you use it?
3. How effective is the teacher professional growth and development system in your school or district? Do you think it needs improvement? Why or why not?
4. How effective is the teacher evaluation system in your school or district? Do you think it needs improvement? Why or why not?
5. After learning from the educational experiences of top-performing countries, which aspects of education in the United States are in the greatest need of reform?

What Makes a World-Class School and How We Can Get There was written by James H. Stronge and Xianxuan Xu. This 140-page, 6" × 9" book (Stock #117078; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-2393-9) is available from ASCD for $22.36 (ASCD member) or $27.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2017 by James H. Stronge. 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.