MacKenzie Price
@mackenzieprice • 12,150 subscribers
Co-founder, Alpha School and 2HrLearning Transforming K12 | Improving outcomes with 1:1 AI-driven academics and critical life skills for a future-ready next gen
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In traditional school, if your kid is ahead, the only move is to skip a grade. Now, they're the youngest in the class. This still doesn't solve the pacing problem or the fact that kids aren't uniformly advanced. A kid can be flying in math and behind in reading at the same time. At Alpha, a fifth grader doing geometry sits right next to a friend who's catching up on fourth-grade math. Same room, same age, no one pulled out, no one held back. They're just each working on what they actually need.
MacKenzie Price53,920 views • 28 days ago
We do not use a chatbot interface in our schools for academics, and here’s the reason: give a kid a chatbot, and they will cheat with it. As much as we’d love to imagine they’re going to get on ChatGPT and engage in a Socratic discussion, they don’t. They copy the question and paste, “What’s the answer?”
MacKenzie Price36,846 views • 22 days ago
I think we managed to capture all the controversies in one video, including dodge ball.
MacKenzie Price27,732 views • 1 month ago
Proud beyond words! Two of our GT/Alpha School students, Krish Bhakta and Jaiden Bhakta, just placed 2nd IN THE WORLD and 1st in the U.S. in the Global AI Debates! And our 10-year-old superstar Everest Nevraumont secured 5th place globally! This incredible achievement wasn't just competing against a few schools. They outperformed over 10,000 student participants from around the globe! The Global AI Debates challenge students to tackle complex ethical questions around artificial intelligence, requiring deep tech knowledge, critical thinking, and persuasive communication. Exactly the skills students need in our current world. And what we cultivate daily at Alpha. When students are empowered with real-world tools, rigorous challenges, and meaningful purpose, there's simply no limit to what they can accomplish. This is what happens when we reimagine education.
MacKenzie Price63,815 views • 1 year ago
The biggest lie in education? “Kindergarteners aren’t ready for real-world responsibility.” But this group of 5-year-olds just learned to build a fire using maps, teamwork, and real leadership. Here’s how they did it (and why it matters): Kindergartners at Alpha school go through our life-skills workshop called Teamwork Titans. In this workshop, our students learn how to: • Gather fuel with intention • Read a map and navigate terrain • Communicate clearly under stress • Block the wind together (shoulder to shoulder!) • And safely build and maintain a fire to roast s’mores But more important than the fire is what’s being built inside them. Because while they’re gathing materials and lighting kindling, they’re also learning: • Leadership – Taking initiative, guiding a team, and learning that being in charge is often harder than doing the task yourself. • Situational Awareness – Reading maps, orienting themselves to north/south/east/west, and noticing what's happening around them. • Team Coordination – Giving and receiving instructions, listening to others, and staying focused when a group dynamic gets tough. • Emotional Regulation – Staying calm when the task gets stressful or peers aren’t listening. • Follow-through – Seeing a shared task through from start to finish, even when it’s difficult. • Pride & Responsibility – Feeling the weight and joy of doing something real, tangible, and meaningful. Many traditional schools try to teach “leadership” by assigning roles on a group poster project. Or they give out clipboards with titles like “line leader” and call it a day. But reading a map to locate firewood… Navigating real group conflict… Blocking the wind with your body so the flame doesn’t die… That’s not pretend. That’s real-world practice. And it’s never too early to start. Because life skills don’t start at 18. This is the future of education.
MacKenzie Price15,409 views • 1 year ago
Most people think AI means we don’t need to learn anymore. But that idea crumbled last month when I sat across from Stanford Graduate School of Education Dean, Dan Schwartz. Dan read this to the audience: “The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many…” No one really understood it. Then he gave them one line of context: “This is about doing laundry.” And suddenly it all made sense. Same paragraph. Same words. But once you *knew* what it was about, your brain could organize the information. Dan looked at the audience and said, “If you don’t know enough, the AI’s output is just words and sentences. You might *think* you understand it, but you don’t.” And he’s right. AI doesn’t eliminate the need to learn—it makes real knowledge more important than ever. This is a conversation we’re constantly having at Alpha. Because when a kid asks ChatGPT a question, how do they know if the answer’s even good? How do they know when to push back or ask more? It all comes back to this: you need knowledge to interpret the output. That’s why we still teach writing. That’s why we teach proportionality. That’s why we want kids to understand germ theory, gravity, and the Bill of Rights. Not because they’ll regurgitate it on a test, but because they’ll need that knowledge to make sense of the world (and the tools) around them. AI will make learning faster, more playful, and more personalized. But it won’t replace the need to learn. It’ll just expose when we haven’t. And as Dan reminded us on stage, the real purpose of education isn’t just facts or grades. It’s helping kids build meaning, curiosity, and the wisdom to use their tools well. Deep thanks to Dean Dan Schwartz for sharing his time and expertise with Alpha and our community.
MacKenzie Price14,491 views • 1 year ago
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There are a lot of adults who struggle with this kind of call. So we built a workshop for our 2nd graders to learn this life skill. They have to initiate a conversation, plan a playdate, and follow through. Yes, it’s “just” a playdate. But all of us need to build up the confidence to ask for what we want. And these 7- and 8-year-olds are building life skills that last a lifetime. • Verbal Communication: Speak clearly, introduce themselves, and express their ideas politely. • Social Courage: Overcome nerves to talk to adults they don’t know well. • Time Management: Coordinate days/times that work for both families. • Initiative: Take the lead on something they want instead of waiting for adults to do it. • Problem Solving: Think through options if the first time doesn’t work. • Follow-through: Confirm details and ensure both sides are clear on the plan. • Manners & Etiquette: Use respectful language and tone when speaking on the phone. Many traditional schools may try to teach these in other ways, but they fail to put students in real-world situations where they can practice. Role-play worksheets: Students fill in bubbles like “What would you say on the phone?” but never actually say it to a real person. Group projects: Intended to teach collaboration and planning, but often results in one student doing the work while others coast. No real negotiation or follow-through required. "Social-emotional learning" videos: They watch characters model skills, but don’t get to practice them in real, high-stakes (for a 2nd grader) situations. Public speaking assignments: Useful, yes. But standing at the front of the class with a script is different from a spontaneous, two-way adult conversation. "Call and response" classroom dialogue: This trains kids to follow cues, not initiate or lead. Too often, we expect kids to magically develop these skills when they’re older, without ever giving them real chances to practice while they’re young. But confidence doesn’t come from a textbook. It comes from doing. We believe real learning happens when students are trusted with real responsibility. Not someday. Not eventually. But right now, in safe, age-appropriate ways that actually matter to them. Because life skills don’t start at 18.
MacKenzie Price11,741 views • 1 year ago
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