Key Takeaways
- • Only 42% of Alpha School students met the network's goal of learning twice as fast in both math and reading, according to internal data first reported by The New York Times.
- • About half of K-8 students at Alpha's private campuses missed the 2x math goal, and roughly one in five missed their reading targets, per the Times' review of the network's data.
- • Students who started behind fared worse: only 37% of the roughly one-fifth scoring at or below the 50th percentile nationally in math last fall met the 2x growth goal by winter.
- • More than 2,600 public school students in Texas and South Carolina now use Alpha's TimeBack platform, a tougher test given that public schools cannot remove struggling students and lack Alpha's prize incentives.
- • Tuition at Alpha's private schools runs up to $75,000 a year, and the network has drawn backing from Silicon Valley figures and the Trump administration, including U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
Summary
Alpha School, a network of AI-driven private schools charging parents up to $75,000 a year, has attracted high-profile supporters from Silicon Valley to the Trump administration. Its own internal data, first reported by The New York Times, show that most students are not reaching the model's central promise. Only 42% of Alpha students met the network's goal of learning twice as fast in both math and reading. The findings coincide with Alpha's expansion into public schools, where districts are adopting its software in hopes of fitting more learning into less time.
Alpha employs no traditional teachers. Its "guides" do not plan lessons or grade homework, according to Fortune's September reporting. The core pitch is that students will learn twice as much as their peers in two hours of academics a day using TimeBack, an AI tutor app marketed by the company. Cofounder MacKenzie Price says the app personalizes learning, freeing the rest of the day for workshops on skills such as public speaking. A spokesperson told Fortune in September that Alpha had more than 1,200 students, while the Times put the figure at about 1,500 across roughly 50 campuses.
Math is the weaker area. About half of K-8 students at the private campuses missed the 2x math goal, and roughly one in five missed reading targets. Students who began the year behind performed worse, with only 37% of the group scoring at or below the 50th percentile nationally in math last fall meeting the growth goal by winter. Guides and parents told Wired that students worked late into the night to meet goals, and one parent of a 13-year-old reading at an 11th-grade level described "stress and anxiety." Former employees told 404 Media that the AI generated faulty lesson plans that sometimes did "more harm than good," and that the company scraped other online courses without permission.
More than 2,600 public school students in Texas and South Carolina now use the platform, according to company documents reviewed by the Times. Public schools cannot remove struggling students and lack Alpha's prize incentives, making this a tougher test. The Houston Independent School District is piloting the software at two schools. Superintendent Mike Miles told the Times that students spent more time on Alpha's apps than planned, cutting into other activities, though he still views AI as an important tool for students to be "successful in a different world and workplace."
The expansion comes as schools face falling math and reading scores and growing evidence that how students use AI matters as much as whether they use it. A study of 26,811 secondary students in central China found homework scores rose 18% after students adopted generative AI tools, while closed-book exam scores fell 20%. The OECD's latest PISA results found daily AI users scored lower in science than nonusers.
Alpha employs no traditional teachers. Its "guides" do not plan lessons or grade homework, according to Fortune's September reporting. The core pitch is that students will learn twice as much as their peers in two hours of academics a day using TimeBack, an AI tutor app marketed by the company. Cofounder MacKenzie Price says the app personalizes learning, freeing the rest of the day for workshops on skills such as public speaking. A spokesperson told Fortune in September that Alpha had more than 1,200 students, while the Times put the figure at about 1,500 across roughly 50 campuses.
Math is the weaker area. About half of K-8 students at the private campuses missed the 2x math goal, and roughly one in five missed reading targets. Students who began the year behind performed worse, with only 37% of the group scoring at or below the 50th percentile nationally in math last fall meeting the growth goal by winter. Guides and parents told Wired that students worked late into the night to meet goals, and one parent of a 13-year-old reading at an 11th-grade level described "stress and anxiety." Former employees told 404 Media that the AI generated faulty lesson plans that sometimes did "more harm than good," and that the company scraped other online courses without permission.
More than 2,600 public school students in Texas and South Carolina now use the platform, according to company documents reviewed by the Times. Public schools cannot remove struggling students and lack Alpha's prize incentives, making this a tougher test. The Houston Independent School District is piloting the software at two schools. Superintendent Mike Miles told the Times that students spent more time on Alpha's apps than planned, cutting into other activities, though he still views AI as an important tool for students to be "successful in a different world and workplace."
The expansion comes as schools face falling math and reading scores and growing evidence that how students use AI matters as much as whether they use it. A study of 26,811 secondary students in central China found homework scores rose 18% after students adopted generative AI tools, while closed-book exam scores fell 20%. The OECD's latest PISA results found daily AI users scored lower in science than nonusers.
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