Consultants Help Modernize Arab Schools

Persian Gulf states enlist foreign education experts in cautious move toward Western methods.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

It’s no accident that in undertaking improvements to its school system, the Ministry of Education in this small, oil-rich Persian Gulf country has made the most progress so far with an initiative to retrain school principals.

After all, Vincent L. Ferrandino, the American consultant the ministry hired to help develop the school improvement plan—and who has a five-year contract to help the United Arab Emirates implement it—specializes in what it takes for principals to raise the level of instruction.

For eight years, until last summer, when Mr. Ferrandino relocated to the UAE, he was the executive director of the Washington-based National Association of Elementary School Principals. He’s also a former...