The small private school promises students will learn two grade levels in a single year — and it’s getting big attention from state and national education leaders.
PLANO, Texas — The new Alpha School in Plano is looking for students — but it doesn’t have teachers.
The latest campus of the fast-growing Austin-based program uses artificial intelligence to power computer programs that teach students academics for two hours day.
“Every single day, the curriculum — the AI — is making those decisions on how to adapt their programming in order to fill the gaps that they’re missing in order to move on to the next skill,” Alpha Head of Admissions Amelia Baldwin explained.
For the remainder of the school day, the students learn life skills like grit and financial literacy through workshops and activities.
And the program comes with a big promise: students who enroll will learn two grade levels in a single school year.
“When you look at the results, the results are there,” said Baldwin. “The two hours is enough if that’s the definition of enough that somebody wants to look at.”
Without teachers, the school employs “guides” who act as motivators — monitoring student progress, overseeing workshops and incentivizing learning.
“Maybe you and I can go on this special trip when you hit your reading goals,” Lead Guide Vanessa Watson gave as an example.
Watson leads workshops intended to give lessons in subjects like grit, financial literacy, teamwork and independence.
“The workshops are all life skill based,” she said.
The Plano program currently only has four students — Watson and another guide each have two assigned to them — and lists a tuition price of $50,000 per year.
“Alpha is not the perfect solution for every family out there,” Baldwin said. “Do I believe that every kid could be successful? I think they have the opportunity to try, but it’s not necessarily a fit for every child.”
But the Alpha program has attracted the attention of top education officials. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon toured the Alpha Austin campus on Wednesday — and was joined by Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, who said aspects of the program may soon come to the state’s public schools.
“Several of the concepts that you heard today are actually a part of the new system that we will be deploying in the 27-28 school year in Texas,” he said.
Baldwin said human guides are still core to the success of the Alpha program, despite the focus on AI-powered learning.
“I think that families are looking for something different,” she said.