What is Alpha, the AI-only school of the future?
Source: Mashable Tech
by Chase DiBenedetto – Social Good Reporter
February 17 2026
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called Alpha School’s AI‑only teaching “the future.”
Credit: Rick Kern / Getty Images for Alpha School
Could you learn all that you need to know about reading, science, and math in just two hours? Two hours spent staring at a screen, with the help of an AI teacher, that is?
A small group of students across the country are testing it out. They’re the next generation of learners molded and shaped by the tech teaching of Alpha School, the “AI‑powered private school” touted by the federal government as a possible future for education.
In a September visit to an Alpha School campus in Austin, Texas, Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the school was “exemplary” and a showcase of what tech can do for American education. The school’s co‑founders claim strong interest from families and from advocates of expanded school choice and alternative learning.
But what exactly is Alpha School selling — and should we take its model seriously?
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What Is Alpha School?
Alpha School was founded in 2014 by educational podcaster and 2 Hour Learning founder MacKenzie Price and software‑and‑private‑equity billionaire Joe Liemandt. It is one of many tech‑focused alternative‑school programs marketed to families dissatisfied with traditional public‑school curricula.
AI developers—including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic—have pushed their way into academia by releasing products for classroom instruction, educator support, and student learning1. Educational companies have also built specialized tools (e.g., chatbots for particular math courses or leveled‑reading programs).
Alpha School proposes something more extreme: AI is the sole instructor, grader, and academic administrator for its students.
“What if your child could crush academics in just 2 hours and spend the rest of their day unlocking limitless potential?”
— Alpha School website
Curriculum Model
- Core subjects – reading and math – are taught for two hours per day using AI‑driven software2.
- Practical skill‑building – entrepreneurship, public speaking, financial literacy, etc. – occupies the remainder of the day and is also AI‑supported.
- An AI platform creates highly individualized lesson plans for each student rather than class‑wide curricula.
- The school employs human “guides” (not teachers) who can provide supplemental help (e.g., handwriting) but do not manage grades or curriculum. Guides are not required to hold postgraduate or education degrees.
Scale & Cost
- In a 2025 New York Times article, Alpha reported serving 200 K‑8 students and 50 high‑school students, with plans to open dozens of locations by the end of 2025.
- Tuition ranges from $10,000 to $75,000 per year (CNN).
Locations
Alpha operates in‑person classes—often in leased spaces at existing private schools—across several states, including:
- Los Angeles, CA
- New York, NY
- Chicago, IL
- Brownsville, TX (the SpaceX company town)
Many sites are situated near major tech hubs such as Palo Alto and San Francisco.
At‑Home Option
For families outside the physical locations, Alpha offers Alpha Anywhere, an at‑home learning program that provides personalized courses, academic support, and professional coaching3.
Does AI‑Based Learning Actually Work?
Parents who placed their kids in Alpha School years ago report mixed experiences. Many eventually pulled their children from the program, as reported by CNN in a recent investigation. Parents told the publication that they had reservations about relying on apps for learning with little to no human intervention. They found that the AI instructors set hard‑to‑meet goals, forcing students to overwork themselves without the support and flexibility a human instructor can provide.
Alpha School’s lack of human involvement is particularly worrisome, according to some learning experts.
“While I do think personalized AI tutors can work well if designed in a way that supports productive struggle, decoupling the human connection from instruction entirely seems very concerning. How can humans play the role of ‘motivators’ if they are not even involved in instruction?” — Hamsa Bastani, associate professor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and AI researcher.
“When you have a school that is strictly AI, it is violating that core precept of the human endeavor and of education.” — Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, The Times (last year).
Bastani and her colleagues are open to AI’s learning potential, but the science hasn’t quite gotten there yet. Bastani co‑authored a 2024 study that found highly motivated students could benefit from AI‑assisted studying, yet the technology had little effect on actual test scores. Additional research shows:
- Modest positive gains for student learning in specific scenarios.
- Other studies report that AI chatbots can hinder learning perception and impede certain types of thinking.
Bottom line: There is no scientific consensus on the impact of universally designed chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT) on learning.
A further concern is Alpha School’s lack of open evaluation. Bastani explains that transparent, independent evaluation is necessary to iterate and improve AI systems. “A lack of internal or independent human evaluation sets the stage for bad AI design broadly,” she says.
Still, the desire for new modes of learning—amid an overburdened and underfunded education system—is strong. The U.S. government and its Big‑Tech allies, each with their own AI agendas, view the technology as a solution. Yet we are still reckoning with the effects of screen time and a new wave of generative‑AI tools on young learners, and, as experts agree, the science just isn’t there yet.
Social Good Reporter
Chase joined Mashable’s Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Her work also captures how these conversations manifest in politics, popular culture, and fandom. Sometimes she’s very funny.
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