To the extent that Americans look abroad for lessons about education, they primarily concern themselves with wealthy nations that perform well on international tests like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In this paper, the author argues that Americans can learn valuable lessons from the many countries that either do not participate in these tests or score relatively poorly on them. A look to the developing world can shed light on many essential questions related to educational performance and the purpose of schools. Here the author discusses six key questions and how studying education in developing countries can help Americans to answer them. (Contains 1 footnote.)