Educators from around the country visited Indianapolis recently. Here's what they had to say.

Andre Cowling had been to Indianapolis before, but he hadn't thought much about it beyond being a good place to watch a Pacers game with friends. 

That changed last month, though, after he joined a group of educators from around the country who paid Indianapolis a visit for a different reason. They came to look at schools, specifically those charter schools partnering with the Indianapolis Public Schools district in a model that continues to stand out as unique, even as states and school districts nationwide look for ways to improve the American public education system. 

"I've been here before... but actually going into the schools and seeing the heart of the people," said Cowling, an educator working with Schools That Can Milwaukee, "that swayed me."

The group was made up of teachers and principals, all graduates of a leadership program run by New Leaders, a New York-based non-profit that trains school leaders who focus on improving education results for poor and minority students. They came from Milwaukee, Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans and elsewhere.

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"We have this incredible body of diverse leaders doing great things," said Elizabeth Zimmerman, executive director of alumni engagement at New Leaders. "What we've found out from our alumni is that they're very interested in launching new schools."

So they brought them to Indianapolis, and the offices of The Mind Trust. 

The nonprofit has been working with Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools for the last several years to build a network of autonomous schools that operate within the public school district. Some of them are restarts of struggling schools; some are new launches. All of them have a model that sets them a little apart from more traditional schools. 

"We think the conditions are in place to make Indianapolis one of the best cities in the country for a transformative school leader to launch a school and learn about an education ecosystem that's partnering in ways that are very unique," said Brandon Brown, CEO and president of The Mind Trust.

For Indianapolis, the benefits of the New Leaders visit are two-fold, Brown said. First, the visit brings educators interested in launching new schools to Indianapolis to see how the city is doing that work and supporting other leaders with similar goals. 

It's a great recruitment tool for the city, and for The Mind Trust. Each year the organization looks for educators who want to replicate or launch innovative school models in the city and provides them a salary, benefits and support for a year or two while planning and preparing to launch. 

"We are always looking to recruit transformative school leaders to launch schools that are going to meet the needs of our kids in Indianapolis," Brown said.  

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Perhaps even more important, though, Brown said, is the feedback that school leaders from around the country can provide to educators in Indianapolis. While here, the group met with The Mind Trust's innovation fellows and toured several Innovation Network schools.

All of a sudden, the city and those thinking about its education system have a group of 30 outside observers with no dog in Indianapolis' schools fight who can report back on what they saw. Brown hopes that sort of feedback will be invaluable to those who work in Indianapolis. 

"If we're able to get a handful of exceptional school leaders to express interest in launching new schools here, that would be tremendous for the city, as well," he said.

It seems to be working. 

Zimmerman said she already had a list of New Leaders alumni interested in learning more about The Mind Trust, its fellowship and Indianapolis. 

"Indianapolis would have been on my radar, other than having been part of this program," said Yasmeen Muhammad, the principal at Nettelhorst Elementary, on the north side of Chicago.

Muhammad said she is interested in launching her own school and Indianapolis could be the place to do it.

Cowling, too, is thinking about Indianapolis in a new way. He said the idea of getting in on something at the ground level is attractive. While other cities have been working on various education reform initiatives for decades, Cowling said what Indianapolis is doing is both unique and still new. 

And that's exciting, he said. 

"This is in its infancy," he said. "It just feels different because they've learned from people who've done this kind of work before."  

Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at 317-444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.