Alpha School, a private education network, has opened its first Chicago campus with a model that relies on artificial intelligence for academic instruction rather than traditional teachers. The school charges $55,000 per year for students in pre-K through eighth grade, a cost that is roughly $8,000 higher than the average annual expense for a private college, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Founded in 2014 by MacKenzie Price in Austin, Texas, Alpha positions itself as an alternative to conventional schooling. The company claims its students score in the top 1% on national standardized tests and does not screen applicants based on previous grades or test scores. Instead, the school seeks students who are self-motivated and coachable. Brian Howell, dean of parents at Alpha Chicago and a former anthropology professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, said graduates have been accepted to institutions including Stanford, Northwestern, and Rice.
The instructional core of the school is a proprietary software called TimeBack. The system was created by a research group under the direction of Carl Hendrick, a cognitive scientist at the Netherlands' Academica University of Applied Sciences. The system is designed to adapt to individual student skills, returning to earlier concepts if a student repeatedly errs on specific problems. Alpha describes the technology as "closed," meaning it does not draw on the open internet, and asserts that it functions like a private tutor by testing knowledge rather than providing answers.
Adults in the building are referred to as "guides" rather than teachers. A February analysis by the University of Colorado's National Education Policy Center found that only about one-third of Alpha guides hold education degrees or training. Carrington Haas, the lead guide at Alpha Chicago, stated that guides do not teach academics but instead provide motivational and emotional support. Academic questions are handled by a remote learning science team that reviews student data daily and conducts coaching calls when necessary.
Zane Shah, a 13-year-old eighth grader who started at Alpha this year, told CBS News that two hours of daily instruction allows him to master material that previously required an eight-hour school day. His father, Binoy Shah, noted an increase in his son's engagement, reporting that Zane now spends several minutes each day discussing his schoolwork with enthusiasm.
However, education experts remain skeptical of the model's efficacy and ethics. Rebecca Winthrop, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has visited Alpha campuses, described the approach as experimental and stated there is no clear externally validated evidence supporting the school's claimed results. She emphasized the importance of deep reflection for long-term learning outcomes.
Carol Corbett Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, criticized the network for financializing education. She noted that Alpha's founders previously implemented the TimeBack platform at Unbound Academy, a free public charter school in Arizona, which she said performed "dismally" compared to other public schools despite promises made in its charter application.