An Austin-based national charter school network offers K-12 students an AI-guided education. Operating under a model called “2 Hour Learning,” a company of the same name advertises accelerated pace, app-based classes designed to teach students at “2X” the speed of a traditional classroom, whatever that means. Parents are promised that the system works for 80-90 percent of children, and that students consistently rank in the NWEA’s 90th percentile. Apart from generating top-ranking national standardized test takers, however, one of 2 Hour Learning’s other explicit goals is the removal of teachers from classrooms.
“Imagine starting a school and declaring, ‘We won’t have any academic teachers.’ We did exactly that!” reads a portion of the company’s white paper.
Instead, affiliate charter schools seek applicants for positions like a “High School Guide.” These $50/hr employees will help design “creative, immersive learning experiences that teach students to leverage cutting-edge AI tools and innovative strategies,” among other responsibilities.
“Think of yourself as a brand consultant for 50 startups simultaneously, guiding diverse branding needs from business to personal expertise positioning,” reads one job listing. Apart from students’ brand development, the opening also stipulates candidates must possess “demonstrated expertise in social media management, content creation, and audience engagement.”
Outside the classroom, one charter seeks a $100/hr “Gifted & Talented Education Evangelist” who will be tasked with “identifying and creating viral-worthy content that challenges the status quo around gifted education.” To accomplish this, the evangelist will need to set “quality standards” while “improving AI-generated content to amplify our reach.” Applicants must have at least 1,000 followers on social media.
Alpha School—the central umbrella for many of the 2 Hour Learning charters—currently has locations in Texas and Florida, and plans to expand to other states ahead of the 2025-2026 school year.
On December 16th, for example, the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools approved an application for an Alpha-affiliated “AI-based virtual academy” called Unbound Academy.
Speaking with Phoenix public radio station KJZZ on Wednesday, Unbound’s Dean of Parents, Tim Eyerman, described what students can expect outside their AI-overseen 2 Hour Learning sessions. Following each morning’s designated two-hour learning module, students then spend their afternoons engaged with their human guides in work “to really hone in on those life skills” like entrepreneurship, leadership, teamwork, entrepreneurship, and socialization.
KJZZ reports that 2 Hour Learning’s AI system allegedly isn’t based on OpenAI’s GPT models or Google Gemini, although it’s currently unclear who built the technology, and what datasets were used. Popular Science did not receive clarification after sending multiple requests to various 2 Hour Learning-affiliated schools at the time of writing.
Tuition for each school varies by location. Unbound Academy, for example, advertises a $40,000 fee covering the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. A promotional video for another related charter called GT School promises to “take the top 10 percent of kids and turn them into the top one percent across all subjects” for $25,000 per year.
“No one has ever dared to do this before,” 2 Hour Learning’s designers vow in their white paper.
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