International Education Entrepreneurs Look to U.S.-Style Models

Gaurav Singh observes classes last week at the Metropolitan Montessori School in Manhattan. The Indian educator is visiting the United States in search of models he can use in the free public schools he's planning to open next summer in a slum of his hometown of Mumbai.

—Michael Rubenstein for Education Week

Indian teacher hopes to import ideas to Mumbai

By Sarah D. Sparks

While much of the current policy discussion around international education focuses on how American students stack up against their peers in Europe and Asia and which international models offer lessons for American schools, one Indian educator is visiting the United States in search of models he can import to a slum of his hometown of Mumbai.

Gaurav Singh, a Mumbai teacher who plans next summer to open a free school in a slum more populated than New York City, is among a new group of international education entrepreneurs who suggest there may be value in U.S. schools exporting their own models to developing schools, too.

Mr. Singh is one of three education entrepreneurs spending six months to a year studying American schools as part of a residency program launched this year by the Washington-based EdVillage , which aims to help international educators set up networks of free public schools to share best practices. During his six-month stint in the United States, Mr. Singh has been visiting district, charter, and private schools for a few...