Alpha School


Alpha School is a private K–12 school network in the United States. The network operates in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and California. Reported tuition varies by location, with examples of about $40,000 per year in Austin and $75,000 in San Francisco.

History and founders

Alpha School originally branched off Acton Academy, a franchise of microschools. Alpha School was founded by MacKenzie Price and her husband Andrew Price. In 2025, Alpha graduated its first class of seniors with 11 of those first 12 graduates moving on to a four-year university.

2 Hour Learning platform

Alpha School uses their "2 Hour Learning" platform. This is a collection of apps owned by Trilogy Software, a division of Trilogy Enterprises, headed by Joe Liemandt. MacKenzie Price's husband and co-founder, Andrew Price, is the chief financial officer at Trilogy and at the related investment company, ESW Capital. The school claims to teach all subjects in two hours without teachers.

Academic performance and outcomes

Alpha School claims students learn faster in this program than in traditional schools. However, the claims are based on NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress assessments with data only available to the school. No claims have been independently verified by disinterested third parties.

Locations and related schools

As of 2025, Alpha School operates campuses at:
StateCityGrades
ArizonaScottsdaleK–8
CaliforniaSan FranciscoK–8
FloridaMiamiK–10
FloridaPalm BeachK–3
TexasAustin PreK–8
TexasAustin 9–12
TexasBrownsvillePreK–8
TexasFort WorthK–8
TexasPlanoK–3

The Alpha School co-founders and ESW Capital have implemented the use of the Trilogy-owned 2 Hour Learning apps to their other schools:
  • GT School, a private school for gifted and talented students in grades kindergarten–8 in Georgetown, Texas and headed by Timothy Eyerman who is affiliated with Alpha School
  • Lake Travis Sports Academy, an Austin-based private school with a focus on athletics and physical sports, for grades kindergarten–8
  • NextGen Academy, a private school in Austin for grades 5–8 that focuses on competing in video games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Overwatch, and developing video games
  • Novatio School, private Arizona school, launched by Ivy Xu's Toronto-based Prequel, an education company that partners with the 2 Hour Learning platform
  • Unbound Academic Institute was a charter school proposed for Pennsylvania by Timothy Eyerman; the state rejected the application
  • Unbound Academy, a wholly-online charter school in Arizona for grades 4–8, launched by Ivy Xu's Toronto-based Prequel education company and using the 2 Hour Learning platform as well as software by IXL Learning, Khan Academy, and Amplify
  • Valenta Academy, a private microschool opening in August 2025 in Bastrop, Texas, and a proposed charter school in Pennsylvania, this school uses the 2 Hour Learning model and like GT School is headed by Timothy Eyerman
The New York Times reported that Alpha School has planned expansions into more than a dozen cities including New York and Orlando.

Critical views and controversies

Founder MacKenzie Price hosts the Future of Education podcast to promote Alpha School and other related enterprises. The Trilogy CEO used the Future of Education LLC, which had been created the day before, as a shell corporation to funnel $1 million to Glenn Youngkin's gubernatorial campaign.
There are reports of concerns about the governance structure of Alpha School and the related schools. For example, at Unbound Academy the board members are all affiliated with 2 Hour Learning, Trilogy Enterprises, and Crossover Markets, each of which serve as vendors for the school, which can present conflicts of interest.
Another criticism is that the claims of academic growth have not been independently verified, and they rely on internal metrics from the schools themselves. Similarly, there is a lack of peer-reviewed studies validating the effectiveness of the 2-Hour Learning approach, and no independent research has been done to discover if any student successes are directly related to the program or if there are other factors leading to that success.
In early 2025, The Pennsylvania Department of Education denied Unbound Academy's charter application: “The artificial intelligence instructional model being proposed by this school is untested and fails to demonstrate how the tools, methods and providers would ensure alignment to Pennsylvania academic standards.”