“The Alpha School that I visited, the first two hours of every day, every student is getting AI instruction in different subjects.”
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Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said that at a Texas-based “Alpha School,” there is AI learning in the first two hours of the day and then children go about the rest of their day in normal classes.
McMahon said she visited the Alpha School location in Austin, Texas. Alpha Schools, which have locations across the country, are a private K-8 school that utilizes AI to tailor education and instruction. The school states that students complete “core subjects” in just two hours in the morning, leaving the rest of the day “to explore tons of workshops that allow them to pursue their passions and learn real-world skills at school.”
“The Alpha School that I visited, the first two hours of every day, every student is getting AI instruction in different subjects. I mean, it’s a real concentrated, focused effort, and what happens is they’re not replacing a teacher. There is a teacher there, and the teacher is monitoring what’s going on, and she can see if one student is really progressing a little quicker or falling a little behind, and able to go in and give a little extra instruction,” McMahon said to Maria Bartiromo on Fox News.
“After that two hours, those students then are in real-life classrooms, they are utilizing what they have learned in the two hours before. And it’s pretty amazing to watch. They’re socially integrated. They are using very practical aspects to put in place, you know, the math principle that they’ve learned, or they’re reading and comprehending, you know, other programs.” the education secretary added.
“It really is progressive. The Alpha Schools are typically charter schools or private schools right now. They’re pretty expensive. But with the presidential executive order, we know that AI is here. We need to embrace it,” she added.
She explained that the US education system should “embrace” the use of AI, but with the “proper guardrails in place.” She added that AI is “not intended to replace teachers, but to be an additional tool for teachers.”