Alpha curious -- and skeptical

Alpha private schools claim students can make twice the learning gains in two hours a day on adaptive apps, leaving afternoons for life skills workshops and projects.

Most students earn high test scores, writes Dana Goldstein in the New York Times. However,

half of K-8 students miss the twice-as-fast target in math and one fifth miss the goal in reading, according to data reviewed by the newspaper.

In two Houston schools that are piloting the Alpha model, students needed more time on the platform, leaving less time for enrichment, says Superintendent Mike Miles. He's hopeful the idea will accelerate learning, but "a little skeptical for kids who struggle.”

Using the TimeBack platform, students move through personalized lessons in reading, writing, math, science and history, achieving "mastery" on tests before moving on.

"Students read some literary and primary source documents in the app, but A.I. also generates articles for students to read and writing exercises tailored to children’s interests — gymnastics, Harry Potter — and offers feedback on student prose," Goldstein writes. There is no AI chatbot.

Students earn points for reaching goals, which can be redeemed for rewards.

Alpha's small private schools are expensive, which means they primarily serve the children of educated, motivated parents. However the model is being piloted more broadly. More than 7,000 students are using TimeBack, including private, public, homeschooled, voucher and international students, Alpha reports.

The network's Unbound Academy, a virtual public charter school in Arizona, "has posted underwhelming academic results, according to program data," Goldstein reports.

Alpha is "marketing TimeBack under the brand name Studient to traditional public schools, promising that districts will pay only for students who meet learning goals."

Alpha has a Theranos problem, writes Van Schoales, who piloted the Apple Classroom of Tomorrow as a Silicon Valley teacher and founded and ran the first Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Charter School. People are dubious about tech gurus marketing miracle cures.

Private-school parents can leave if they're dissatisfied, he writes. "Unfortunately, with the growth of state voucher and tax-credit programs that carry no accountability for results, Alpha is positioned to draw millions of tax dollars into its expansion."

Alpha is a startup, writes Karen Vaites, who's joined the school's "learning science" team to develop early reading software. It's an experiment in progress.

"I believe weak EdTech is a leading culprit in the decline of student outcomes over the last decade," she writes. But she was "Alpha-curious," and decided to give it a try.

"Our first early reading app, Alpha Phonics, completely changed my thinking about what’s possible in the AI era," she writes. She's now helping develop "a knowledge-building reading app, to immerse students in science- and history-rich learning through work with whole books."

New ideas are tested on students, evaluated and improved -- or discarded, she writes. Change is rapid.

"Last year’s Alpha School results are based on a set of products that aren’t half as good as what we’re creating now."

Alpha has assembled "the world’s best learning scientists," Vaites writes. The key question is whether they can "create a comprehensive, cohesive curriculum, instruction, and assessment system that can deliver breakthrough outcomes regardless of the student population" -- not just for advantaged students. She thinks so. Even if the learning rate drops as Alpha scales up, she believes "it will outpace the rate of learning in traditional schools." If Alpha's model could produce "1.3X learning at scale, that will still be an insane breakthrough for K-12 education," she concludes.

I'm Alpha-curious and skeptical and hopeful.