The Big Story

Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out

In Brownsville, Texas, some families found a buzzy new school’s methods—surveillance of kids, software in lieu of teachers—to be an education in and of itself.
Student Classroom Computer and Paperwork
At Alpha School’s campus in Brownsville, Texas, a student works on exercises in a learning app.Photograph: Brenda Bazán; Treatment: WIRED Staff

One day last fall, Kristine Barrios’ 9-year-old daughter got stuck on a lesson in IXL, the personalized learning software that served as her math teacher. She had to multiply three three-digit numbers without using a calculator. Then she had to do it again, her mom says, more than 20 times, without making mistakes.

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