How could this approach be any more misinformed about the cognitive science of deep learning? I won’t even get started about the social and moral development issues here…
Luke - I enjoyed this post. I wrote about Alpha a month or so back. They've just opened a new school in Manhattan and I am interested to see how it does. NYC families will be quick to pull their kids if it doesn't seem to be delivering. But this was very useful and I had similar questions about it's AI promises, especially when it comes to writing and reading.
I have an 8th grader who was placed this year in a math intervention class- at my request. Since 6th grade (all of MS)- his math learning has been a cluster- he had 4 different teachers last year, only one for the first 6 weeks was an actual math teacher. He already struggled and was behind and also was making an A in class while not being able to do basics. So I pushed for math intervention- it’s a pass/fail class based solely on… iReady- if I had known this- I would’ve pushed for an additional elective and done tutoring. I talked to the teacher and she has 30 years of experience and is basically hand tied to how she runs the class because of the districts push on iReady. If kids are behind on ELA or math iReady- they are now offering a Saturday make up day complete with pizza to make up iReady. What are we even doing? He was also behind in ELA - had an amazing ELA teacher last year and made a ton of progress. Though I’m concerned a lot of that is being lost this year as he struggles with writing but is making an A without almost no effort. But at least he’s doing iReady. Thank you for voicing so many of my own and my parent friends frustrations and honestly a lot of teachers and admin frustrations- I wonder how much more my kid could learn with a creative teacher who was able to actually challenge and engage.
ahh Cristy thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful note. I just finished an hour-long meeting with my sister about her 6th grader who is also experiencing the tumult of a revolving door of teachers and all of the chaos and learning loss that comes with it.
Although iREADY wasn't at the heart of it this time, they also described the "rubber stamping" of work in class that reflected the barest of efforts on his behalf and were aghast at how it was impacting his motivation and self-concept. They had tears in their eyes for most of the chat, and it really broke my heart. This is all so personal.
Thanks for taking the time to write, wishing him thriving and the continued blessing of great teachers in the coming years to help him fulfill his potential.
Thank you so much and best of luck to your sister and her kiddo. It’s so hard feeling both the individual impact and responsibility to navigate all of this when it is such a collective/systemic problem. So it does help to know we aren’t screaming into the void! Thanks for your work!
Fascinating!! I felt the same way when I read they primarily use IXL for their literacy— what a scam!
This reminds me a bit of people who “learn” languages on Duolingo for years, but then get to the country and can’t talk to anyone. Sometimes gamifying learning with a computer just makes you better at the game: it still takes a real teacher to make you better at the real skill.
Thank you so much for bringing attention to this. It’s easy for those outside education to get hoodwinked by the promises.
I love the comparison to duolingo. There are some things, like math practice, that programs like IXL really work for, and they can be pretty useful for things like phonics and word recognition practice, too! But when it comes to analysis, reading, and deep language interaction, it's nothing but snake oil.
I also wonder about IXL's usefulness in math...I'd love to hear from a math teacher, but my hunch is that there are low-level cognitive skills that IXL drills help teach, but more cognitively complex math isn't able to be taught by machines. I think math is probably analogous to the Duolingo/ second language learning in that way-- yes, you NEED all the low level skills (vocab and grammar for language, number fluency for math) to be able to reach mastery, but they aren't sufficient-- you also have to practice performing the more cognitively complex skills in context!
I also wonder about the English word recognition that you mention. The purpose of learning new words is to be able to actually recognize them when we read, speak, and eventually be able to use them-- does IXL actually help us do that, or does it just help us get better at IXL style questions?
How could this approach be any more misinformed about the cognitive science of deep learning? I won’t even get started about the social and moral development issues here…
Luke - I enjoyed this post. I wrote about Alpha a month or so back. They've just opened a new school in Manhattan and I am interested to see how it does. NYC families will be quick to pull their kids if it doesn't seem to be delivering. But this was very useful and I had similar questions about it's AI promises, especially when it comes to writing and reading.
https://fitzyhistory.substack.com/p/this-school-doesnt-use-grades-teachers
glad to have you tune in and so appreciate the thoughts. Looking forward to diving into more of your writing--I learned a lot from the piece! ^
I have an 8th grader who was placed this year in a math intervention class- at my request. Since 6th grade (all of MS)- his math learning has been a cluster- he had 4 different teachers last year, only one for the first 6 weeks was an actual math teacher. He already struggled and was behind and also was making an A in class while not being able to do basics. So I pushed for math intervention- it’s a pass/fail class based solely on… iReady- if I had known this- I would’ve pushed for an additional elective and done tutoring. I talked to the teacher and she has 30 years of experience and is basically hand tied to how she runs the class because of the districts push on iReady. If kids are behind on ELA or math iReady- they are now offering a Saturday make up day complete with pizza to make up iReady. What are we even doing? He was also behind in ELA - had an amazing ELA teacher last year and made a ton of progress. Though I’m concerned a lot of that is being lost this year as he struggles with writing but is making an A without almost no effort. But at least he’s doing iReady. Thank you for voicing so many of my own and my parent friends frustrations and honestly a lot of teachers and admin frustrations- I wonder how much more my kid could learn with a creative teacher who was able to actually challenge and engage.
ahh Cristy thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful note. I just finished an hour-long meeting with my sister about her 6th grader who is also experiencing the tumult of a revolving door of teachers and all of the chaos and learning loss that comes with it.
Although iREADY wasn't at the heart of it this time, they also described the "rubber stamping" of work in class that reflected the barest of efforts on his behalf and were aghast at how it was impacting his motivation and self-concept. They had tears in their eyes for most of the chat, and it really broke my heart. This is all so personal.
Thanks for taking the time to write, wishing him thriving and the continued blessing of great teachers in the coming years to help him fulfill his potential.
Thank you so much and best of luck to your sister and her kiddo. It’s so hard feeling both the individual impact and responsibility to navigate all of this when it is such a collective/systemic problem. So it does help to know we aren’t screaming into the void! Thanks for your work!
Fascinating!! I felt the same way when I read they primarily use IXL for their literacy— what a scam!
This reminds me a bit of people who “learn” languages on Duolingo for years, but then get to the country and can’t talk to anyone. Sometimes gamifying learning with a computer just makes you better at the game: it still takes a real teacher to make you better at the real skill.
Thank you so much for bringing attention to this. It’s easy for those outside education to get hoodwinked by the promises.
I love the comparison to duolingo. There are some things, like math practice, that programs like IXL really work for, and they can be pretty useful for things like phonics and word recognition practice, too! But when it comes to analysis, reading, and deep language interaction, it's nothing but snake oil.
Thanks for reading!
I also wonder about IXL's usefulness in math...I'd love to hear from a math teacher, but my hunch is that there are low-level cognitive skills that IXL drills help teach, but more cognitively complex math isn't able to be taught by machines. I think math is probably analogous to the Duolingo/ second language learning in that way-- yes, you NEED all the low level skills (vocab and grammar for language, number fluency for math) to be able to reach mastery, but they aren't sufficient-- you also have to practice performing the more cognitively complex skills in context!
I also wonder about the English word recognition that you mention. The purpose of learning new words is to be able to actually recognize them when we read, speak, and eventually be able to use them-- does IXL actually help us do that, or does it just help us get better at IXL style questions?
Thank you for this study! I had questions about Alpha, many answered in your post. You might be interested in my post, "Peer Teaching Can't be Automated." A comprehensive response to replacing teachers with machines has to lift up the role of paid peer and near- peer teachers in adapting learning cultures to the 21st century. Thank you again! https://open.substack.com/pub/jaygillen/p/peer-teaching-cannot-be-automated?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=nkont
Jaygillen.substack.com