Our kids deserve better. We're doing something about it.

We're a group of Twin Cities parents who love this state, believe in public education, and have watched with growing concern as Minnesota's schools slide further behind — year after year, despite more spending and good intentions.

We're not here to assign blame. We're here because we found something that actually works, and we want to bring it to our community.

We're organizing to bring Alpha School — a K–12 private school built around 2-hour mastery-based learning — to the Twin Cities metro. We need 25 Founding Families to make it happen.

I'm interested — keep me in the loop

Minnesota's schools are struggling — and the data is hard to ignore

Minnesota has long seen itself as a high-performing education state. We're educated, we care about our kids, and we spend real money on schools — over $15,700 per pupil per year. But the results tell a different story.

More than half of Minnesota students can't read or do math at grade level

According to the 2025 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, just 49.5% of students meet grade-level reading standards and only 45% meet grade-level math standards. Third-grade reading proficiency has fallen for four consecutive years. As of 2025, more than 54% of Minnesota third-graders cannot read at grade level — the fourth straight year of decline.

Source: American Experiment, August 2025, citing Minnesota Department of Education MCA data.

Minnesota's national education ranking has fallen dramatically

The Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count report ranked Minnesota's education system #7 in the country in 2021. By 2024, it had fallen to #19. Minnesota's fourth-grade reading scores are now below the national average for the first time since national testing began in 1992. The state's average fourth-grade reading score — once a point of pride — has become a warning sign.

Sources: Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count 2025; American Experiment, October 2024.

Minnesota students are nearly three-quarters of a grade level behind where they were in 2019

A joint Harvard University and Stanford University analysis found that Minnesota students remain approximately 0.74 grade equivalents below their pre-pandemic 2019 math performance, and more than half a grade level behind in reading. Among all 50 states, Minnesota ranks 8th highest in projected lifetime income loss attributable to these learning setbacks. Ninety-six percent of Minnesota students attend districts where average math achievement is still below 2019 levels; 98% in districts below 2019 levels in reading.

Source: Education Recovery Scorecard, Harvard/Stanford, February 2025.

The problem runs deeper than the pandemic

When Minnesota's national test scores are adjusted for student demographics — controlling for income, race, and other factors to make a fair state-to-state comparison — Minnesota drops from an apparent top-tier state to 28th overall, and 39th in fourth-grade reading. These gaps existed before COVID-19. The pandemic accelerated and exposed them, but the underlying issue is a school system that was never designed to meet every child where they are. Despite record levels of per-pupil spending, the majority of Minnesota students are not meeting basic academic standards.

Source: American Experiment, March 2025, citing Urban Institute 2024 adjusted NAEP analysis.

This isn't about politics — it's about our kids

These numbers show up in well-funded suburban districts and underfunded urban ones alike. They affect kids who are academically ahead and bored, kids who learn differently and fall through the cracks, and kids whose needs are simply invisible in a classroom of 25. Minnesota parents across the political spectrum share the same frustration: the system was designed for a world that no longer exists.

There's a proven alternative — and we can bring it here

Alpha School is a K–12 private school network that operates differently from anything currently available in Minnesota. Its students consistently score in the top 1–2% nationally. It is accredited by Cognia, the nation's leading educational accreditor. And its model is expanding rapidly — driven city by city by parent communities like ours.

Alpha is already open in New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Austin, Chicago, Scottsdale, Plano, Fort Worth, and more. New campuses are opening this fall in Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Palo Alto, Santa Monica, and others. Parent communities are organizing in Boston to bring it there next.

Alpha comes to new cities through parent communities. The threshold to unlock a campus is 25 Founding Families. We're building that community now, across Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding suburbs.

Joining our community is not a financial commitment. It means you're interested, want to learn more, and want to be part of the conversation. Once 25 families express genuine interest, Alpha will host an exclusive in-person event in the Twin Cities — and we'll be on our way.

Add my name to the community list

What it honestly costs

Alpha tuition ranges from $40,000 to $75,000 per year depending on the city; new campuses typically open toward the lower end of that range. Founding Families receive a $10,000 annual tuition discount for the first five years — a $50,000 total benefit. This is a significant financial commitment, and we want to be honest about that. Alpha is working to expand access through virtual and hybrid options over time, but the in-person model is currently a private school.

What is Alpha School?

Alpha School is a K–12 private school network founded in Austin, Texas in 2014 by MacKenzie Price and Brian Holtz. It has expanded to campuses across the United States and is accredited by Cognia, the nation's largest educational accrediting body — which recognized Alpha's model as a genuine innovation in continuous school improvement. Read Cognia's profile of Alpha School here.

The 2-hour academic model

Every morning at Alpha, students spend approximately two focused hours on core academics — math, reading, language arts, and science. This is not supplementary tutoring. It is the entire core academic program, delivered through an AI-powered adaptive learning platform.

The AI functions as a personalized tutor: it assesses each student's current level across every skill, assigns work at the right difficulty, tracks mastery in real time, and advances the student only when they've genuinely understood the material. Students work in focused 25-minute sessions with short breaks, a structure drawn from learning science research on attention and retention. The result: students close knowledge gaps, accelerate their strengths, and never fall behind undetected.

What kids do the rest of the day

With core academics complete by midday, students spend afternoons in hands-on workshops covering life skills rarely taught in traditional schools: goal-setting, financial literacy, public speaking, entrepreneurship, design thinking, emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving, and responsible use of AI tools. Students take on real projects, work in teams, and develop a genuine sense of purpose and direction — not as an afterthought to academics, but as a core part of what school is.

Guides, not lecturers

Alpha calls its classroom adults Guides. Because the AI platform handles academic content delivery, Guides can focus entirely on what humans do best: mentoring, building trust, developing resilience and character, and motivating young people through challenges. Guides are often former teachers, coaches, and entrepreneurs — hired rigorously not just for credentials, but for empathy, high expectations, and a coaching mindset. Students work on screens during focused academic sessions, but the majority of the school day is off-screen with Guides and peers.

What about socialization?

Alpha is a full-day school. Students spend mornings in small, focused learning sessions and afternoons in collaborative workshops, team challenges, passion projects, and group activities. The smaller school size typically creates stronger peer bonds, not weaker ones. Many Alpha families report this as one of the most pleasant surprises: their kids develop closer friendships at Alpha than they did in larger traditional settings.

Real-time visibility for parents

Alpha parents have continuous access to their child's progress data — not just quarterly report cards with letter grades. You always know where your child stands, what they're working on, and where they need support.

Is Alpha the right fit for your family?

Alpha serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade. It works well for kids who are academically ahead and bored, kids who learn differently and have been falling through the cracks, and kids who are right at grade level but whose parents want more than test preparation. It is honest that it is not for every family. It works best for parents who believe:

Alpha is probably not the right fit if you strongly prefer a traditional school structure, value large peer cohorts as the primary social environment, or are uncomfortable with a model that looks radically different from school as you experienced it. That is completely valid. Alpha works best for families who are genuinely excited by the unconventional approach, not just tolerating it.

What the data shows

Alpha measures academic progress using NWEA MAP Growth assessments — the same nationally normed standardized tests used by tens of thousands of schools across the country, administered three times per year. This makes Alpha's results directly comparable to national benchmarks.

According to Alpha School's published data:

An honest note on the data: Alpha's results are reported by Alpha School from MAP assessments they administer internally. The MAP tests themselves are independently developed and nationally normed, which provides meaningful comparability — but these outcomes have not been independently audited by a third party. We link to the full results data below so you can evaluate it directly.

See Alpha's academic results data

What it means to be a Founding Family

Alpha School expands city by city through parent communities. The model: gather 25 families who are genuinely interested, and Alpha will come to your city for an in-person information event. From there, the path to a campus opening begins.

What Founding Families receive

What joining right now means

Filling out the form below is not a financial commitment. It is an expression of genuine interest. It connects you with other Twin Cities families exploring this, and it moves us closer to the 25-family threshold that triggers Alpha's first in-person event here. If you decide Alpha is the right fit, you'll have everything you need to move forward as a Founding Family. If you decide it isn't, you've lost nothing.

Do your own research

We encourage every parent to dig in independently. Here are the best primary sources:

About Alpha School

About Minnesota's education landscape

Join the Alpha Minnesota community

We're building toward 25 Founding Families. The more parents who express interest, the faster we can bring Alpha to the Twin Cities — and the sooner we can host an in-person event here so you can meet the Alpha team, see the model up close, and make an informed decision for your family.

This is a no-commitment expression of interest. Fill out the form and we'll be in touch.

To express interest directly with Alpha School, visit alpha.school/bring-alpha-to-your-city.