Is it possible to master reading, science, and mathematics in just two hours daily, guided solely by an AI instructor on a screen? This concept is currently being explored by a select group of students nationwide. These learners are part of Alpha School, an “AI-powered private school” that the federal government suggests could represent the future of education.
During a visit to an Alpha School campus in Austin, Texas, in September, Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon highlighted the school’s potential, calling it an “exemplary” demonstration of technology’s role in American education. The school’s co-founders report significant interest in their system, particularly among proponents of school choice and alternative learning methods.
However, what exactly does Alpha School offer, and how seriously should its model be considered?
What is Alpha School?
Alpha School, established in 2014 by educational podcaster and 2 Hour Learning founder MacKenzie Price alongside software and private equity billionaire Joe Liemandt, is not a recent innovation. It operates among numerous tech-centric alternative education programs marketed to families seeking alternatives to traditional public school curricula.
Major AI developers such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have entered the academic sphere, introducing products aimed at classroom instruction, teacher assistance, and overall student learning. Concurrently, educational firms have developed their own tools to complement existing course materials, including specialized chatbots for math or reading comprehension.
Alpha School, however, proposes a more radical approach. Rather than serving as a supplementary tool, AI functions as the students’ exclusive instructor, evaluator, and academic manager.
According to Alpha School, its K-12 curriculum was developed with input from “world-renowned learning scientists, advanced degreed academic experts and researchers.”
Similar to other alternative educational models, students at Alpha School split their time between practical and academic studies. Core subjects like reading and math are covered in just two hours daily, “using A.I.-driven software,” as reported by the New York Times. The remaining time is dedicated to AI-supported practical skill development, including entrepreneurship, public speaking, and financial literacy. An AI platform monitors all progress, generating highly personalized lesson plans for each student instead of a standardized class curriculum. The schools do not employ traditional teachers; instead, human “guides” are present. These guides do not handle grading or curriculum but can provide specialized instruction, such as handwriting. Notably, these guides are not required to hold postgraduate or educational degrees.
On its website, the private school poses the question: “What if your child could crush academics in just 2 hours and spend the rest of their day unlocking limitless potential?” It claims that “Your kids can accomplish twice as much if they’re not sitting in a one-size-fits-all classroom for 6 hours.”
A New York Times report from the previous year stated that Alpha School served 200 K-8th-grade students and 50 high school students, with plans to expand to dozens of locations by late 2025. CNN reported that annual tuition costs range from $10,000 to $75,000.
Is there an Alpha School near me?
Alpha School conducts in-person classes, some within leased facilities at existing private schools, across various states nationwide. These locations include Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Brownsville, Texas — a town associated with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Many campuses are situated in prominent tech hubs, such as Palo Alto and San Francisco. Additionally, Alpha provides an at-home learning option, Alpha Anywhere, which offers personalized courses, academic assistance, and professional coaching.
Does AI-based learning actually work?
Parents who enrolled their children in Alpha School years ago have reported varied experiences, with many ultimately withdrawing their kids from the program, as detailed in a recent CNN investigation. These parents expressed concerns about the reliance on learning apps with minimal human involvement. They observed that AI instructors often set ambitious goals, leading students to feel overworked without the adaptable support typically provided by a human teacher.
Several learning experts find Alpha School’s minimal human involvement particularly troubling. Hamsa Bastani, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and an AI researcher, commented, “While personalized AI tutors can be effective if designed to support productive struggle, completely separating human connection from instruction seems highly concerning. How can humans act as ‘motivators’ if they are not involved in the teaching process?” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, also stated to the Times last year that “When you have a school that is strictly A.I., it is violating that core precept of the human endeavor and of education.”
While Bastani and her peers acknowledge AI’s potential in education, they note that current scientific understanding is still developing. Bastani co-authored a 2024 study which indicated that highly motivated students might benefit from AI-assisted study, though the technology showed minimal impact on actual test scores. Other research suggests AI can offer slight positive improvements in student learning under specific conditions, while some studies indicate that AI chatbots can negatively affect learning perception and certain cognitive processes. In essence, there is no broad scientific agreement regarding the educational impact of general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT.
Experts also find Alpha School’s absence of transparent evaluation concerning. Bastani emphasizes that such evaluation is crucial for refining and enhancing AI systems. She states that a lack of internal or independent human assessment “sets the stage for bad AI design broadly.”
Despite these concerns, there is a significant demand for innovative learning approaches, especially within an education system often described as overburdened and underfunded. Both the U.S. government and major tech companies, each with their own AI objectives, view this new technology as a potential solution. However, the long-term effects of screen time and the latest wave of Generative AI tools on young learners are still being assessed, and as experts point out, the supporting scientific evidence remains insufficient.
