For about $65,000 in tuition, parents could soon enroll their children at a Bethesda private school that promises students can “crush their academics in 2 hours” a day with the help of AI software.
Eyeing Montgomery County, the national network of Alpha Schools is throwing itself into competition with Maryland’s largest school district and the capital region’s many vaunted private and parochial schools.
Alpha is targeting dozens of cities as part of its growth plan. A spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement that the network chose Bethesda for expansion “because of strong interest from local families and the community’s commitment to education.”
Officials expect to open the campus in fall 2027, though a location hasn’t been finalized.
Alpha Schools, which has piqued the interest of the Trump administration, is planting campuses across the nation after gaining traction in Austin, Texas. Its principal, Joe Liemandt, is a tech billionaire who has called traditional education obsolete.
“Kids need to learn 10 times faster,” he said in a 2025 interview.
As the network has grown, so has criticism of its model. Skeptics have questioned Alpha’s claims about how quickly its students learn, as well as the campuses’ unconventional educators and some of its unorthodox practices.
Alpha’s expansion into Maryland comes amid a national and local reckoning over technology in the classroom in which cellphone bans are proliferating, screen time is under scrutiny and the country’s two largest school systems — Los Angeles and New York — have restricted the use of AI.
Montgomery County Public Schools leaders are in the midst of conducting an audit of student screen time after pushback from parents who worry that excessive time on computers could be straining their children’s eyes, reducing their attention spans, interrupting their sleep patterns and compromising their mental health.
At the same time, schools are under pressure to teach students to responsibly use the technology that will shape the workforce.
The Trump administration last year established the White House Task Force on AI Education to help the nation “maintain global dominance in this technological revolution for future generations.”
In response, Alpha co-founder MacKenzie Price wrote that “the education revolution has begun, and it’s going to be awesome.”
It’s unclear how many Montgomery County families will invest in what Alpha Schools is pitching. According to its online dashboard, one family has committed to Alpha Bethesda as of Sept. 14. School officials say more than 100 other families have expressed interest, and they’re trying to drum up more.
“Here’s the reality: Alpha doesn’t open its doors without 25 committed families. No exceptions. We don’t launch without the community that makes it possible, and right now, that community is you,” a staff member wrote in an online chat with prospective families, encouraging them to put down a $1,000 deposit and spread the word.
How it works
An Alpha spokesperson said that tuition for the Bethesda campus has not been finalized, though they expect it to run at about $65,000 annually. It will be based on several factors, including campus real estate costs and staff pay.
Alpha students complete their core academic subjects in about two hours a day. Their lessons are delivered by AI software.
“Our adaptive apps keep a constant eye on each student’s performance, tweaking lessons on the fly to suit their individual needs,” reads a blog post explaining the model. “If a student is killing it in math but hitting a wall in reading, the AI adjusts accordingly — serving up tougher math problems while offering extra help in reading.”
In the afternoon, students participate in life skills workshops focused on subjects like financial literacy, public speaking and grit.
Students work with “guides” instead of teachers.
“The title changed because the job changed: AI delivers academic lessons, and Guides spend their day on motivation, relationships, and life skills coaching,” reads an Alpha School FAQ.
To attract and retain staff, officials decided that guides’ starting salary would be $100,000; in areas with a high cost of living, it’s $150,000.
The starting salary for Montgomery County Public Schools teachers is $66,690.
At Alpha Bethesda, officials plan to start with kindergarten through eighth grade. They may “quickly expand” to high school, an official wrote in the online chat.
If that happens, older students may be expected to participate in Alpha High Bootcamp, which has been the recent subject of scrutiny. In one activity during this eight-week series of lessons, students wear a heart-rate monitor and, in front of their classmates, listen to a recording of their parents giving them critical feedback.
“To pass, you have to take it in calmly and bring your heart rate back within 10% of your resting baseline. It is a lesson in hearing hard truths without shutting down,” reads an explanation on the school’s website.
The national Alpha network continues to grow. Its leaders attempted to open publicly funded charter schools in several states, but were mostly rejected.
Pennsylvania officials, for example, wrote in a 2025 decision that “the artificial intelligence instructional model being proposed by this school is untested and fails to demonstrate” how it would align with the state’s academic standards.
In many cities, however, Alpha’s private school model has caught on.
“Families have decided it’s time for something new in education,” Price said on a recent podcast episode, adding that Alpha Schools “are literally opening from coast to coast.”
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