“The obvious question I get is what do they do with the rest of the day?” says Alpha School founder MacKenzie Price, in a school introductory video. “We do what every parent thinks school should really be about, enabling kids to succeed in the real world by teaching valuable life skills.”
For $40,000 a year, your student can attend a K-8 Alpha School in Fort Worth, and for another $10,000, they can attend the K-3 campus in Plano. They’ll start their morning with a two-hour instructional course taught by AI programming; this is the only time they’ll receive the typical core curriculum that has defined the American education system. Once the reading, writing and arithmetic are out of the way, students spend the rest of their time building on 24 identified life skills through workshops led by what the school calls guides, instead of typical teachers.
“Most schools are built on an outdated model that tries to cover too much content in too little time,” reads the Alpha website. “We believe that when you free up time by streamlining academics, you can focus on developing the character, confidence, and competence your child needs to thrive in the real world. … This is education that prepares students for life, not just tests.”
Training to complete a 5-mile bike ride is an example of a workshop geared toward kindergarten and first grade, designed to teach them grit and hard work. Second- and third-graders are expected to coordinate and manage their own play dates to teach socialization and relationship-building skills. In middle school, students will be challenged to secure $10,000 for a start-up business they’ve crafted to build skills in entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
The school claims to offer a new adaptive learning model that makes students excited to learn, removing the boredom of six hours spent sitting at a desk. Alpha students, according to the school, learn 2.6 times faster than peers in nationally distributed measures of academic progress tests, scoring in the top 2%, so they claim. As a private school, Alpha School is not required to release standardized test scores, though they state they're rising; the school opts to focus on other, less trackable highlights.
"Across the board, our students are making huge strides," wrote Price in a blog posted to the school's website. "Sure, standardized test scores are climbing, but more importantly, students are honing critical thinking skills, unleashing their creativity, and fostering a genuine love for school."
The nontraditional program was founded by Price, an Austin mom who was disenchanted by her children’s lack of engagement in learning within the standard educational design. In 2014, she developed her trademark two-hour learning model, and by 2016, she opened the first Alpha campus. In 2025, Alpha High School graduated its first senior class, with 12 students, 11 of whom went on to college.
In May 2025, all Alpha schools were accredited by Cognia, a U.S. Department of Education-recognized nonprofit organization that accredits primary and secondary institutions worldwide. Students at any Alpha school can easily transfer back into the public education system or to another private institution. Students who attend the Alpha High School in Austin receive a high school diploma and are able to take the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The school reports that in May 2023, its students received college credit for 94% of the AP courses completed that year.
"We didn’t have to change who we are to earn [accreditation]," wrote Price on the school's blog. "Instead, we demonstrated how Alpha aligns with Cognia’s 30 standards for learning, leadership, and continuous improvement. The result? A respected accreditation that affirms what our families already know: Alpha works."
What About Teachers?
The instructors, whom the school calls guides, do not need a teaching certification or a degree in education. Any bachelor's degree will work. The Plano campus is hiring a lead guide, and its ideal candidate is someone who has “shattered records, turned around failing ventures, or achieved the 'impossible.'” The new guide won’t ever write lesson plans or deliver boring lectures, but they will be paid $150,000. Alpha promises six figures to all of its teaching staff. "Our teachers spend all of their time working with our students," Price said in an interview with Fox. "That human connection can never be replaced by AI. But the AI makes it possible to personalize learning for everyone."
At the flagship campus in Austin, the only high school version of the program, the school is seeking a guide who will be “a blend between a TikTok strategist, content coach, and startup advisor” to teach our future. The guide will help Alpha high school students with skills like content strategy, brand building, and social media metric analysis and connect students with "relevant influencers.”
At Alpha, there is no homework. Parents receive a daily dashboard summary of their student’s progress. There are no academic ceilings at Alpha either; if a student is advancing fast, the AI model will match their pace. If your student can handle long division in the second grade, the AI platform will present them with that.
The sticker shock of a five-figure tuition is hard to look past, especially when the school's selling point is computer work. But Alpha maintains its tuition is all-inclusive for one-of-a-kind workshops, which have previously featured international travel. They promise never to ask for additional funding and remind parents that the price is on par with the standard top-of-the-line private school. The San Francisco campus, which is the most expensive, costs $75,000 a year.
The school is rapidly expanding throughout the country, with new campuses scheduled to open in a dozen cities by December 2025. Despite its irregularities, the experimental school has attracted the support of big names, like billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has hailed Alpha as the future of education.
200 years ago K-12 ed was a teacher and a blackboard in front of 25-30 kids. Today, the only thing that has changed is the blackboard may be a whiteboard. And meanwhile the world is in the midst of an AI revolution.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) August 20, 2025
Check out @AlphaSchoolATX. The first truly breakthrough… https://t.co/0GfAhvtqHo
