After a more than a decade of decline in academic performance at American public schools (and also those in Canada) that some call a crisis, drastic changes in education – a revolution – is needed to turn the tide.
Almost a third of students in both countries are not achieving a basic skill level in reading, writing, science, and mathematics. This has led to a lack of self-confidence in many students – a doubt their ability to think and learn – and disengagement at school. These students are likely more vulnerable to the negative health impacts of social media: anxiety from social comparison and inability to judge social media content critically.
Some commentators have suggested that a main reason for the declining academic performance is the idea held by many public-school teachers and administrators that schools should prioritize inculcating particular political ideas, to promote equity and inclusion, over teaching academic subjects and independent thinking skills. These political ideas include social justice, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), gender ideology, critical race theory, anti-capitalism, and climate alarmism that further contribute to students’ anxiety. Some governments have even taken action to ban political ideology from classrooms.
AI is a tool that can revolutionize education and reverse the trends of declining academic performance and teaching of political ideology, without the need for the government trying to uphold standards in education or to remove political indoctrination from public schools.
AI revolution in education needs business, such as tech companies developing AI-based teaching and tutoring programs for schools. Schools adopting these programs also play a crucial role in the revolution. Due to the high initial cost of AI-enhanced education and teaching of political ideology in many public schools, the first adopters will be private, for-profit schools. (As the cost of AI will come down over time when scaled to teach more students, there will be private schools providing AI teaching and tutoring at different price points, which makes them increasingly accessible).
AI-based programs will help students engage with the material, accelerate their learning and achieve mastery of academic subjects. This will enhance confidence in their ability to think and learn and reduce anxiety and other mental health problems.
The Alpha Schools, led by the principal Joe Liemandt, are pioneers in using an AI-based learning model to revolutionize education. I have no personal connection to, or a stake in the Alpha Schools but chose to write about them because they are at the forefront of using proprietary AI teaching and tutoring programs that adapt to each student’s abilities and learning needs and enable them to achieve mastery.
The Alpha Schools are doing this successfully, according to the Forbes magazine and a Knowledge Project podcast interview of Liemandt. These schools, located across the United States, are on a mission to help students love learning (or “love school more than vacation”). The students are very engaged, and that also shows in their standardized test scores (typically in the 90th to 100th percentile) and the admission and success of the graduates at top universities.
The schools’ funding is sustainable, supporting growth. Liemandt, a billionaire tech entrepreneur and the founder of Trilogy software company, has committed about $1 billion of his fortune to developing his educational model and the Alpha Schools. Tuition is about $40,000 per year on most campuses. The cost of AI amounts to $10,000 per student, but that is projected to decrease as the student numbers grow and new schools are launched. This will make the Alpha Schools accessible to more students, including through charter schools they are launching in many states that offer education vouchers.
Being private, the Alpha Schools can innovate in ways not possible to public schools that lack the resources and likely the motivation needed. Some of the key innovations are:
- Two hours each morning that each student spends in individual learning with the help of specially designed AI tutor to learn twice as fast than in a conventional classroom and to achieve mastery
- Application of knowledge in the afternoons in workshops and real-life projects to learn life skills such as leadership, teamwork, and entrepreneurship.
- Teachers don’t teach classes but work as guides or coaches that help students identify their goals and develop and sustain motivation
These innovations have cultivated love of learning in the students, eliminated disengagement and boredom, and yielded good results as the frequent testing and surveys show.
The Alpha Schools have been criticized for seeking profits and the founders and associates for benefiting financially from being involved with the schools. I think they deserve to be praised instead, for helping revolutionize student learning by creating and offering a product that is a win for the students, the parents and for society that benefits from the self-confident, well-educated, and high-achieving graduates. I don’t think the Alpha Schools are perfect, but they are leading the way by showing what is possible by successfully applying AI to education.
