Every kid deserves a truly personalized education, regardless of their background. And this week, my guest on the Future of Education podcast is Braden, one of our whip-smart lead guides at Alpha Austin. He dismantles the myth that Alpha’s learning model is a luxury for the few.
We dive into why Alpha treats every student like they have an IEP, how raising the bar for every student is the ultimate key to success, and why a child’s zip code should never define their learning potential.
I’ve shared 8 of the most important takeaways below. And if you enjoy reading or listening, don’t forget to leave a comment, like, or subscribe.
— MacKenzie
8 takeaways from the episode
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“Alpha only works for a certain type of kid” is the critique I hear most. It’s also the most wrong. Braden has worked at three Alpha campuses (Brownsville, GT School, and Alpha Austin) with kids from every imaginable background. Kids from wealthy families, kids on scholarship, kids who were homeschooled, kids who hated school, kids years behind grade level, kids already ahead. The model has worked for all of them. I’m not saying it’s a silver bullet. There are no silver bullets in education. But there is real power in a truly personalized one.
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Every kid at Alpha has an IEP. In traditional schools, an Individualized Education Plan is a legal accommodation for kids who require special education services. Students who have needs the standard classroom can’t meet. At Alpha, an IEP is the default setting. Every kid gets a personalized education with a personalized motivational model. For one kid, that means working from a Zen booth with headphones on. For another, it’s daily cash incentives. For another, it’s racing to earn a Boba tea. For another, it’s just the words you’re crushing it. Every kid gets a plan built around what actually motivates them.
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Alpha isn’t out to replace teachers. We’re reimagining their role. Teachers aren’t broken. The system is. In our schools, guides aren’t supplementary to the academic model…they are the model. A guide can pull up a running spreadsheet on every kid and tell you exactly what’s motivating them and exactly what they’re working on this session. Parents are used to getting a report card four times a year. This is a living document on your kid, updated continuously.
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Alpha is like the iPhone. We make “updates” every six weeks. From Braden: “I always say that at Alpha, if we can make something better tomorrow, we will.” Our guides are obsessively proactive, which means there are a lot of rollouts. If something isn’t working, we change it. We’re constantly innovating and refusing to settle. At a traditional school, a great idea lives and dies in one classroom. At Alpha, a great idea becomes the new standard across every campus within weeks.
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The right curriculum is 10% of learning. Motivation is the other 90%. While traditional schools only focus on the 10%, our guides are trained to obsess over the 90%. Being a great learner isn’t about getting the right curriculum, but about being a motivated student. That’s what the guide’s whole day is built around.
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Socioeconomic background isn’t a prerequisite for learning ability. Our Brownsville campus is $10,000 a year. GT School is $25,000. Alpha Austin is different still. And within every one of those campuses, we have kids on scholarship, kids from wealthy families, kids whose parents are SpaceX engineers, kids whose parents work at the corner store. From Braden: “There isn’t something intrinsic about being rich that means you’ve had great school experiences or that you’re predisposed to be successful.”
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The same kid archetypes show up at every campus. The kid who hated school and just needed to believe she could succeed. The intrinsically motivated kid who needed the bar raised higher. The kid who got bored and needed more structure. Braden has seen every one of these kids at all three campuses he’s worked at. Different zip codes and different backgrounds, all seeking (and finding) a truly personalized education.
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There’s no such thing as the “average” student. Your kid isn’t too advanced, too behind, too distractible, too sensitive, too creative, or too anything to learn. What they are is a specific, individual human being with a specific way of coming alive. The only real question is whether the adults around them have built something capable of meeting them there. That’s exactly what we’re building.
I always love filming episodes with our guides, because it’s a chance for you to hear directly from them, get to know them a little more, and see firsthand how amazing they are. If you’re curious to know how Alpha guides actually interact with students, give this episode a listen. (I call Braden our “Swiss army knife.” You’ll love him.)
What’s one thing that motivates your kid to learn outside of school?
