Alpha School: AI-Powered Private Education Disrupts Traditional Schooling

AI‑powered private school lands in Tampa

Why it matters: Alpha Schools is riding the parental school choice movement while embracing the technology that will shape kids' futures -- a challenge public schools are grappling with. How it works: At Alpha Schools, students spend no more than two hours a day on core academics, then devote the rest of the day to developing life skills. * AI models generate personalized learning plans for students, who then learn on third-party apps like Synthesis Tutor and Math Academy, as well as Alpha Schools' own programs. Each subject is taught in 25-minute sessions, with short breaks in between. * Founder MacKenzie Price tells Axios that Alpha Schools can ensure students master concepts before new material is introduced. * Instead of teachers, the schools employ "guides," who start at $100,000 a year. They don't create lesson plans or lectures. Think of them more like coaches, who work to motivate students and come from a range of backgrounds, from tech to law. Zoom in: For $40,000, Tampa Bay K-8 students will get 60-90 minutes of outdoor play, in addition to the two hours of personalized learning and development of life skills like "entrepreneurship" and "grit," per its website. * The Tampa campus is set to open this winter for founding families, with full enrollment expected next year, per an Alpha spokesperson. The school's location hasn't yet been finalized. Zoom out: Alpha School, which says it avoids political and social issues, is gaining more national attention, boosted by the support of billionaire Bill Ackman, a known critic of DEI. * Price says the anti-DEI movement was not a driving factor behind the school's inception, although her disappointment in her daughter's public education was. * She is a supporter of school choice, though, the Washington Post reports. In the last two years, she or entities tied to her donated more than $2 million to Republicans and PACs that support alternative school options. What's next: Beyond the Tampa campus, Alpha will launch this fall in Northern Virginia; Santa Barbara, Calif.; New York City; and Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., before expanding to Houston and Puerto Rico.

2-hour AI private schools are scaling, from North Carolina to Puerto Rico

Why it matters: With tuition starting at $40,000, Alpha Schools is riding the parental school choice movement while embracing the technology that will shape kids' futures -- a challenge public schools are grappling with. How it works: In Alpha Schools, students spend no more than two hours on core academics, then devote the rest of the day to developing life skills. * AI models generate personalized learning plans for students, who then learn on third-party apps like Synthesis Tutor and Math Academy, as well as Alpha Schools' own programs. Each subject is taught in 25-minute sessions, with short breaks in between. * Founder MacKenzie Price tells Axios that, unlike traditional schooling, Alpha Schools can ensure students master concepts before new material is introduced. What they're saying: "If a kid comes to us and is behind, we're able to help catch them up," Price says. "If a kid comes to us who's been bored in traditional school because they're more advanced, they're able to really take the ceiling off." * Afternoon skills workshops, such as a team bike race or running a lemonade stand, are designed to teach practical skills like financial literacy and public speaking. * Instead of teachers, the schools employ "guides," who start at $100,000 a year. They don't create lesson plans or lectures. Think of them more like coaches, who work to motivate students and come from a range of backgrounds, from tech to law. The other side: Skeptics have questioned the effectiveness of replacing teachers with AI and restricting learning to 25 minutes per subject. * One of the core benefits of education is the socialization of young people, says Bryan Proffitt, vice president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. Teachers help students understand how to treat each other and how to relate to others' emotions. * "Think back to your own high school days. You had your own quirky teacher. They made you reflect on who you are," Proffitt tells Axios. "(The idea that) machines are going to be able to meet those needs for our kids is absurd." Zoom out: Alpha applied to open a public-school charter network in multiple states, but state boards in Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Arkansas and North Carolina rejected the idea, The New York Times reported. * So far, only Arizona has agreed to partner with Alpha. It will open a virtual AI charter school this fall. Case in point: Raleigh parent Jesse Miele -- who calls the current education system a "death trap" -- is considering enrolling his 8- and 4-year-old in Raleigh's new Alpha School. He says his children's private Christian school has failed to embrace technology. * During a "simulation day," Miele says he was blown away by how a guide encouraged his timid son to make it to the top of a rock climbing wall -- blindfolded. * "This is about what is best for my children," Miele tells Axios. "If I have the resources to do it, then why wouldn't I?" The big picture: Alpha School, which avoids political and social issues, is gaining more national attention, boosted by the support of billionaire Bill Ackman, a known critic of DEI. * Price says the anti-DEI movement was not a driving factor behind the school's inception, although her disappointment in her daughter's public education was. What's next: Alpha will launch this fall in Santa Barbara, Calif.; New York City; Chantilly, Va.; and Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; before expanding to Houston, Tampa and Puerto Rico. * Alpha Schools struck a deal to open in some Guidepost Montessori buildings. Some campuses, such as the North Carolina ones, are delayed as they work out the kinks of sharing a space. * Existing locations are in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Miami and Palm Beach. There are also five in Texas, including Brownsville, home of Elon Musk's SpaceX. The bottom line: "I would love to be able to bring this model of education to more and more people and make it more accessible," Price says. She says she hopes the public system "will embrace this idea."

A Billionaire-Approved AI Private School With Half a Day of Recess Is Offering Teachers Six-Figure Pay

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman recently promoted Alpha School on social media, calling the school a "truly breakthrough innovation." A new network of schools is disrupting the status quo with AI-generated lessons, six-figure pay for teachers, and the approval of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman. Alpha School is a nationwide private school network that uses AI to customize learning for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The typical Alpha School day consists of two hours of AI-generated academic learning for core subjects, followed by four hours of hands-on activities. The school claims that students learn twice as much as those following a standard system, per The Wall Street Journal. There is no homework, and parents receive daily data about how well their children are learning in school. Related: 'Now Accepting Applications': Elon Musk Is Opening a New Preschool in Texas Called Ad Astra. Here's How to Apply. Ackman, who has a net worth of $8.28 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, posted about Alpha School on X last week, promoting the system and calling it a "truly breakthrough innovation." He mentioned in his post that children in the Alpha school system "love school and have incredible outcomes." The schools charge tuition between $40,000 and $75,000, depending on the location. The school was co-founded by MacKenzie Price, a Stanford graduate who created the two-hour learning model after her daughters told her that school was boring. Her vision was to create a way for students to pursue core academics in just two hours a day, leaving the rest of the time open to experiential learning. Teachers, who earn a minimum of $100,000, are referred to as "guides" because they "don't do academic teaching," Alpha School Principal Joe Liemandt explained on an episode of the "Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy" podcast released on Tuesday. Instead of teachers outlining concepts on a board, students learn from devices assisted by AI. For example, a job opening for a high school guide at Alpha School in Austin, Texas, asks for an individual who can teach students "how to grow authentic social media followings" and "connect students with relevant influencers," instead of someone with a teaching degree. Related: Y Combinator Helped Launch Reddit, Airbnb, and Dropbox. Here's What I Learned From Its Free Startup School. Liemandt said on the podcast that Alpha School keeps students motivated by leaning into game-like lesson plans created by AI. For example, students can "unlock" afternoon activities, like a five-mile bike ride, by finishing their two hours of classwork. Students can also earn money by completing their coursework and use it to fund their interests, like investing. It's unclear how much they can earn. "Your kid can earn money by doing academics, so they can fund their passion projects," Liemandt said on the podcast. Alpha School is up and running in Texas, California, and Florida, with plans to launch schools in New York, Arizona, North Carolina, and Virginia later this year.