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Ten years ago, Elle became one of the very first students at Alpha—essentially acting as a long-term guinea pig for a brand-new school model. Today, she is graduating as valedictorian, heading to Stanford University, and the youngest published female author in NATURE science journal. In Part 2 of this post-mortem, MacKenzie and Elle sit down for an honest debrief on how the experiment actually played out. 

What happens when a child decides by the first grade that they simply aren’t the "smart" one?When Elle brought home a family portrait labeling her sister as smart and herself as dumb, her teachers and parents feared she had already been put in a box. But an unconventional school model and a tactical "confidence anchor" completely flipped her trajectory.Now a graduating senior, Alpha Valedictorian Elle joins MacKenzie to share her incredible journey from struggling student to history-making researcher. She breaks down the exact psychological shifts that unlocked her potential, the reality of building a massive teen dating app with AI, and what happened when she hounded a top scientist to run a study that is now up for publication in the world's leading scientific journal.

Many Montessori apologists decry the use of AI in the classroom, claiming this type of technology is harmful to the learning experience. But our latest experiment actually proves the opposite. We just opened Montessorium, a school that combines the learning technology of Alpha Schools with the classical Montessori method of teaching. Anna Smiley, Lead Guide at Montessorium, joins MacKenzie to break down the real-world results of this model so far—and how AI can actually enhance, not replace, child-led learning.

In an era of instant dopamine hits like TikTok, YouTube, and ChatGPT summaries, getting a kid to crack open a book feels like a losing battle. But it doesn't have to be!In this episode, MacKenzie breaks down the exact strategies used to build high-agency, avid readers—including a highly controversial, hyper-effective, science-backed weapon: paying kids to read.For parents who want to build a lifelong reading muscle in their kids, this episode's 5 easy strategies are a great way to get started this summer.

Traditional discipline punishes disruptive students by isolating them. But bad behavior is actually just a data point.In this episode, I sit down with Matt Shenker—a licensed therapist, the Lead Guide at Alpha Scottsdale, and a behavioral science expert with years of experience specializing in ADHD. Matt breaks down a massive systemic flaw: the education system doesn't have a knowledge gap when it comes to behavior management...it has an implementation gap.This episode is a goldmine for any parent or educator who deals with challenging behavior (hint: it's all of us!), offering extremely practical shifts that truly change how we achieve positive growth.