Alpha School grew from 12 campuses a year ago to 50 now, and Joe Liemandt, its founder and principal, says its students learn twice as much in two hours a day as peers do in six hours plus homework.
Most schools still run six hours of classroom instruction plus homework. Alpha uses AI to compress academics into the morning and spends the afternoon on leadership, entrepreneurship, public speaking and grit, and Gagan Biyani, CEO and co-founder of the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, argues the same redesign now has to reach college. The two spoke with Erik Torenberg on a16z's podcast.
"Instructional design and delivery hasn't changed for 100 years... cognitive science and learning science plus the advent of LLM's, you can build a learning engine that teaches kids 10 times faster." — Joe Liemandt
Joe dropped out of Stanford to start a company and now talks to tens of thousands of K-12 parents. Gagan, who co-founded HAA, says Alpha convinced him that a school redesigned around outcomes can deliver them.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 57 minutes of audio, 9 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 insights that matter.
a16z · Oct 27, 2026 · 57m · 48m saved
With Joe Liemandt, Founder and Principal of Alpha School · Gagan Biyani, CEO and Co-Founder of the Horowitz Andreessen Academy
Key Takeaways
Alpha students learn twice as much in two hours a day, Joe says, and spend the rest of the day on five life-skill categories
Alpha has grown from 12 campuses to 50 in a year
Third graders must raise their "team-oriented" language from under 20% to 85% to pass, measured by AI in an escape room
Every student works at 80–85% correct, the zone where video game designers say players stay engaged
Gagan argues college needs the same redesign, because university leaders spend 90% of their time on adults rather than students
Alpha's new Founder School guarantees $1 million in profit from a student business during high school, or a full tuition refund
The right question for an 18-year-old is what interests them, Gagan says, not which field is safe from AI
1. Two Hours, Then Life Skills
Alpha makes three commitments to students, Joe said. They love school, they learn twice as much in two hours a day, and the freed-up afternoon goes to five life skills: leadership and teamwork, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, socializing and building relationships, storytelling and public speaking, and grit.
Joe says almost every Alpha student reports loving school
"90-some percent of our kids say, 'I love school.' 50% of the kids at the school said, 'I would rather go to school than go on vacation.'" — Joe Liemandt
Joe credits an AI "learning engine" for the speed. A single teacher in front of a classroom delivers instruction the way it was delivered a century ago, and the engine teaches 10 times faster.
