Alpha School Expands AI Learning as Educators Question Results

Alpha School, a for-profit education network founded in Austin, Texas, is expanding its artificial intelligence-based learning model into public schools while facing questions about its effectiveness. The network says its software enables students to master core academic subjects in two to three hours each morning, leaving afternoons for workshops and activities, as it pursues a goal of reaching one billion students worldwide.

According to The New York Times, Alpha operates about 50 campuses serving approximately 1,500 students. A company document reviewed by the newspaper indicates that school districts in Texas and South Carolina have adopted its software, with about 2,600 public school students now using the platform.

Alpha's approach has attracted support from influential business leaders, including software billionaire Joe Liemandt, and attention from the Trump administration, which has promoted the network as an example of using AI to prepare the future workforce. However, educators, former parents and former employees have questioned whether the model can deliver its promised results across a broader range of students.

The network's expansion also faces a financial and accessibility challenge. CBS News reported that tuition at Alpha's Chicago campus, which opened this fall for students in pre-K through eighth grade, costs $55,000 annually. The network's existing private-school families are largely affluent, technology-oriented households, making adoption by public schools an important test of whether the approach can reach a wider population.

Alpha was founded in 2014 by MacKenzie Price, who has criticized conventional schooling. The company says its students score in the top 1% on national standardized tests and that applicants are not screened according to previous grades or test scores. Instead, it looks for students who are coachable, self-motivated and receptive to its learning model.

At Alpha, students use a proprietary platform called TimeBack for subjects including math, reading, writing, language and science. According to CBS News, the software adapts to individual performance, revisiting earlier concepts when students repeatedly struggle with particular problems. Alpha says the system is designed to test understanding rather than simply supply answers, and it does not draw information from the open internet.

The platform was developed by a research team led by cognitive scientist Carl Hendrick of the Netherlands' Academica University of Applied Sciences. Alpha also employs a globally distributed learning science team that includes licensed teachers, curriculum experts and early-childhood specialists. The team reviews student data, monitors progress and provides remote coaching when students need additional academic support.

Students at the Chicago campus spend their academic hours working on laptops while adults known as guides provide motivational and emotional support. A February analysis by the University of Colorado's National Education Policy Center found that only about one-third of Alpha guides had education training or degrees.

Carrington Haas, Alpha Chicago's lead guide, described the distinction between the school's staff and traditional classroom teachers in an interview with CBS News.

"We're not teaching academics. The main part of our job is to support the students motivationally and emotionally," Haas said.

She said academic specialists can assist students through coaching calls when they encounter difficulties. Haas, who previously worked in traditional education, rejected the characterization of Alpha as a school without teachers.

"I think it's the future," Haas said. "And it's not teacherless because we're still there and we're still very much teaching the life skills that they need to know."

Brian Howell, dean of parents at Alpha Chicago and a former anthropology professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, said the school's model emphasizes mastery, requiring students to demonstrate understanding before moving forward. He also argued that the system relies on human oversight rather than allowing AI to control students' daily schedules.

"It's important to understand that they're not interacting with chatbots. They're not getting answers from AI," Howell said.

Howell said staff members monitor dashboards to identify where students are progressing quickly or struggling. He also cited college admissions as evidence of the school's outcomes.

"They're getting accepted to fantastic schools — Stanford, Northwestern, Rice," Howell said.

One student, 13-year-old eighth grader Zane Shah, told CBS News that two hours of academic work at Alpha felt sufficient compared with a traditional eight-hour school day. He said the smaller amount of classroom-style instruction helped him concentrate.

"I feel like I can be more focused instead of having 20 to 30 kids in a classroom all talking at once," Shah said.

His father, Binoy Shah, also described a change in his son's engagement with school, saying the family had begun hearing more detailed accounts of his daily activities. His experience reflects the positive feedback Alpha has received from some families, even as broader questions about academic performance remain unresolved.

Rebecca Winthrop, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has visited Alpha campuses, has questioned the school's claims about its unconventional instructional approach. The debate over its methods comes as Alpha seeks to persuade more school districts and state education systems to adopt its technology, extending a model developed primarily for private-school students into public education.