Zane Shah arrives at school at 8:45 a.m., greets his friends and stores his backpack in the assigned cubby.
asserted
Shah → arrive → cubby
But one thing about Shah's school is different: There are no traditional teachers.
asserted
thing → be → school
Shah, 13, is an eighth grader at Alpha School, a network of private, for-profit institutions that opened its first Chicago campus this fall for students in pre-K through eighth grade.
asserted
that → open → grade
The adults in the building are called "guides," and artificial intelligence handles all the academic instruction.
asserted
intelligence → call → instruction
When school starts at 9 a.m., students work on math, reading, writing, language and science on laptops, using adaptive software that Alpha says lets them master core subjects in roughly two hours a day.
asserted
them → start → hours
That mastery doesn't come cheap.
asserted
mastery → come → ?
Attending Alpha Chicago costs $55,000 a year, or roughly $8,000 more than the average annual cost of a private college, according to U.S. News & World Report.
uncertain
Attending → attend → News
Alpha was founded in Austin, Texas, in 2014 by MacKenzie Price, who has become an outspoken critic of traditional schooling.
asserted
who → found → schooling
Alpha says its students score in the top 1% on national standardized tests.
asserted
students → say → tests
The school also says it does not screen applicants based on previous grades or test scores.
asserted
it → say → grades
Instead, they look for students who are coachable, self-motivated and open to the learning model.
asserted
who → look → model
The school says students are only asked to leave for behavioral issues, not failure to meet academic standards.
asserted
students → say → standards
"They're getting accepted to fantastic schools — Stanford, Northwestern, Rice," said Brian Howell, dean of parents at Alpha Chicago and formerly an anthropology professor at Wheaton College in Illinois.
asserted
Howell → accept → Illinois
Shah, who started at Alpha this year, previously attended traditional schools.
asserted
who → start → schools
Two hours of daily academic instruction is enough to accomplish everything he had learned in a typical eight-hour school day, he told CBS News.
asserted
he → accomplish → News
"I feel like I can be more focused instead of having 20 to 30 kids in a classroom all talking at once," Shah said.
asserted
Shah → feel → classroom
Learning at Alpha centers on the school's proprietary educational software, called TimeBack, which is used across all of Alpha's campuses and at a handful of affiliated private schools.
asserted
which → center → schools
The system was developed by a research team led by cognitive scientist Carl Hendrick of the Netherlands' Academica University of Applied Sciences.
asserted
system → develop → Sciences
TimeBack is designed to adjust to students' individual skills and capabilities over the course of the school year.
asserted
TimeBack → design → year
For example, if a student repeatedly errs in tackling the same type of problem, the software returns to earlier concepts to fill in any knowledge gaps, according to Alpha.
uncertain
software → err → Alpha
Alpha also relies on a learning science team comprising subject-matter experts based globally, including licensed teachers, curriculum experts or specialists in early childhood education.
asserted
Alpha → rely → education
They review student data daily, tracking each child's progress and whether they've met their academic goals.
asserted
they → review → goals
The team also builds the curriculum and steps in through remote coaching calls as a last resort if students bog down and need additional help.
asserted
students → build → help
Alpha says their approach works more like a private tutor than a chatbot because the software doesn't provide answers; instead, the system is designed to test students' knowledge until it determines they've properly learned a given lesson.
asserted
they → say → lesson
The technology is also "closed," meaning it doesn't draw on information from the open internet.
asserted
it → close → internet
"It's important to understand that they're not interacting with chatbots.
asserted
they → understand → chatbots
They're not getting answers from AI," Howell said.
asserted
Howell → get → AI
Replacing teachers with "guides"
asserted
Replacing → replace → guides
Another unusual aspect of Alpha schools is that most guides don't have a background in education.
asserted
guides → have → education
A February analysis from the University of Colorado's National Education Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, reported that only about one-third of Alpha guides have education training or degrees.
asserted
one → report → training
Carrington Haas, Alpha Chicago's lead guide, told CBS News that staffers at the schools play a different role than traditional teachers.
asserted
staffers → tell → teachers
"We're not teaching academics.
asserted
We → teach → academics
The main part of our job is to support the students motivationally and emotionally," she said.
asserted
she → support → students
Asked whether guides answer academic questions, Haas added, "No, the academics team has their support so they can jump on a coaching call."
asserted
they → ask → call
Yet Haas, who has a background in traditional education, including stints at Teach For America and at a Waldorf charter school, rejected the idea that the school is teacherless.
asserted
school → have → idea
"I think it's the future," she said.
asserted
she → think → ?
"And it's not teacherless because we're still there and we're still very much teaching the life skills that they need to know."
asserted
they → teach → that
Howell described Alpha's approach as mastery-based, meaning students don't advance until they've demonstrated understanding of a concept.
asserted
they → describe → concept
When a student gets stuck, the guide doesn't immediately offer help; instead, it directs the student to reread the problem while drawing on hints from the adaptive software.
asserted
it → get → software
"Human beings are looking at those data.
asserted
beings → look → data
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
