Alpha Schools, the AI-powered school network, expands into Boston
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Alpha Schools, a high-end, AI-powered private school, plans to launch in 27 cities this school year, including Boston.
Why it matters: While traditional schools navigate how to adopt AI, Alpha Schools uses an AI-dependent classroom model that the company claims reduces screen time and increases human interaction.
- Tuition will start at $55,000 a year, the Boston Globe reported.
How it works: Students spend no more than two hours a day on AI software to learn core subjects, says MacKenzie Price, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Schools.
- They spend the rest of the day developing life skills in workshops. For example, in Austin, students organized a music festival for a nonprofit.
- Instead of licensed teachers conducting lessons, Alpha Schools hires "guides" whose jobs are to motivate and coach students.
- They're paid at least $100,000 a year.
What they're saying: "Alpha is one of probably the most talked about schools in the country right now," Price tells Axios.
- She says traditional schools either allow chatbots to "run rampant" or ban the technology outright, which means they lose out on a chance to transform the U.S. education system.
Zoom in: Just 18% of teachers in public K-12 schools in a Gallup study released in May said they've received any formal guidance from school administrators on how to use AI tools.
- Meanwhile, parents are balancing whether letting their children use AI strengthens digital literacy or results in cognitive decline.
Reality check: The research is limited.
- That's why Boston University partnered with the nonprofit Just Horizons Alliance to build an AI Ethics Index for K-12 schools.
- "I have no problem with AI being used to save time. It's more the question of, what are you giving up?" says Janet Kang, the alliance's executive director, when asked about Alpha Schools.
- "Learning isn't just about saving time or covering as much content as possible," she added. "The interactions and exchanges you have with teachers and other students are an important part of human development."
The other side: Gerald LeTendre, a Penn State education professor, says his concern with AI education models — including Unbound Academy and Khan Lab School — is they risk conflating teaching and tutoring.
- "AI tutoring can help, but it has to be within an atmosphere where there's deep human contact with a highly qualified teacher," he adds.
- He argues helping teachers become proficient in AI is a more promising strategy than replacing them.
What's next: This school year, Alpha plans to open campuses in 27 markets, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Nashville and Raleigh.
- Some of those campuses were previously announced and delayed, largely because of issues with the real estate, Price says.