Educational development organizations and related global movements emerged and expanded during the twentieth century. Today, most activities in the educational development field are characterized by a scientific outlook that schooling can be transformed using measurable and generalizable knowledge, and most of its leaders believe that experts can transport this knowledge internationally across diverse contexts. In this article, the author analyzes the characteristics of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) that pursue scientific, expert, and knowledge-based activities. Although scientific activities are immensely influential in the contemporary world, there is a poor understanding of which organizations engage in scientific activities and what types of organizations avoid or even reject them. This article begins by noting the increasingly scientific emphasis among international development and nongovernmental organizations, despite the fact that such types of organizations were once guided by the religious logic of Christian charity. Next, the author defines the activities associated with a rationalized, scientific approach to educational development and provides a description of the prevalence of various types of activities. The author concludes with a discussion of what may be gained and what may be lost when educational development organizations embrace rationalized activities. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 16 footnotes.)