The accepted wisdom is that private schools serve the privileged. Everyone else, especially the poor, requires public school. The poor, so this logic goes, needs government assistance if they are to get a good education, which helps explain why, in the United States, many school choice enthusiasts believe that the only way the poor can get the education they deserve is through vouchers or charter schools, proxies for those "better" private or independent schools, paid for with public funds. If one reflects on these beliefs in a foreign context and observe low-income families in underprivileged and developing countries, one finds these assumptions lacking: the poor have found remarkably innovative ways of helping themselves, educationally, and in some of the most destitute places on Earth have managed to nurture a large and growing industry of private schools for themselves. In this article, the author reports on findings regarding private schools serving the poor in Gansu Province, China; Ga, Ghana; Hyderabad, India; and Kibera, Kenya. The author found large numbers of private schools for low-income families, many of which showed measurable achievement advantage over government schools serving equally disadvantaged students. (Contains 3 figures.)