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Comment by HALtheWise | Hacker News Reader

There's a lengthy, and quite good, deep-dive into Alpha School by a current parent here, for anyone interested. Spoiler, "AI" isn't that big a portion of what they're doing, but some of their insights and systems around student motivation are actually interesting and very effective.

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-review-alpha-school

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I heard one of the founders interviewed on the Hard Fork podcast[1] (which confusingly is primarily concerned with AI, rather than crypto.) I went in with very negative expectations, but came away with a positive impression and optimism that they might be onto something. As you say, AI is not core to the project. Instead, the focus is on using technology to facilitate individualized learning. It is true that teachers are 'replaced', but by humans whose job it is to keep the students focused and motivated, rather than to convey information.

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/podcasts/hardfork-educati...

I had the same reaction to this podcast:

https://joincolossus.com/episode/building-alpha-school-and-t...

I like the vision and believe in the good intentions. I don't know whether they've achieved much so far.

I've had the same opinion since I was a TA. Most of the stuff the students learned was from the textbook. The value the instructors provide should above all be the motivation , the enthusiasm and the instilment of meaning into what the students are learning.

>Instead, the focus is on using technology to facilitate individualized learning. It is true that teachers are 'replaced', but by humans whose job it is to keep the students focused and motivated, rather than to convey information.

I have good news for you. Tell your kids to get into a few fights, or get caught smoking weed in school too many times. They will be sent to an "alternative school" as punishment that uses this same insight - let the kids sit in front of a computer all day "learning" while a teacher nags them to quit falling asleep. In fact, they can do it for around 6 hours a day, three times better than this charter.

If your child took the MAP Growth test in Fall 2024 or Spring 2025, you can compare their RIT scores to the mean score of an Alpha School student in the same grade:

https://go.alpha.school/hubfs/MAP%20Results%20-%2024%2025/20...

Assuming a normal distribution, this will indicate whether your child is above or below the median Alpha School student. This may be impact your view about how well Alpha School is doing vs whatever school your kid goes to.

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