Wealthy parents pay $75,000 for Alpha’s two-hour AI school day. Half of its K-8 students missed the math target | Fortune

The promise behind Alpha

Alpha School has no traditional teachers. Its staff, called guides, are described in company marketing as helping students feel valued and motivated, while lessons and homework are handled differently from conventional schools.

Alpha has grown quickly. A spokesperson told Fortune in September that it had more than 1,200 students, while The New York Times put enrollment at about 1,500 across roughly 50 campuses, consistent with expansion plans announced in August.

Results fall short of targets

Students who began behind had weaker results. About one-fifth of private-school students scored at or below the national 50th percentile in math last fall; among them, 37% reached Alpha’s twice-as-fast growth goal by winter, according to the Times.

The two-hour model has also faced questions about workload. Guides and parents told Wired that some students worked late into the night to meet goals. A parent of a 13-year-old reading at an 11th-grade level said the process involved “stress and anxiety.”

Support and concerns

Some supporters say AI skills belong in schools. Sarah Cone, a venture capitalist whose 8-year-old daughter attends Alpha’s New York campus, told Fortune that not teaching students to use AI well could be a disservice.

Former employees told 404 Media that Alpha’s AI produced faulty lesson plans. Internal documents reportedly said some plans did “more harm than good”; former employees also alleged the company used other online courses without permission.

Public schools face a test

More than 2,600 public-school students in Texas and South Carolina use Alpha’s platform, according to company documents reviewed by The New York Times. The Times noted that public schools cannot remove struggling students and do not have the prize incentives used at Alpha’s private campuses.

Houston Independent School District is piloting the software at two schools. Superintendent Mike Miles told the Times students spent more time on Alpha’s apps than planned, reducing time for other activities, but said AI remained an important tool for preparing students for a different world and workplace.

Evidence on student AI use is mixed. A study of 26,811 secondary students in central China found homework scores rose 18% after generative AI adoption, while closed-book exam scores fell 20%. The OECD’s latest PISA results found daily AI users scored lower in science than nonusers, while moderate users performed about the same.