#366 ‒ Transforming education with AI and an individualized, mastery-based education model | Joe Liemandt

Software entrepreneur Joe Liemandt has pivoted from creating a profitable software company to pursuing significant change in K-12 education, influenced by his background and his children's experiences.

Liemandt's Career and Trilogy, a Software Company Founding

Joe Liemandt enters the tech scene after leaving Stanford to build his own enterprise.

Liemandt Dropped Out of Stanford to Start Trilogy, a Profitable Software Company

In about 1989, Joe Lemar, a member of Stanford's class of 1990, dropped out during his junior year to start Trilogy. It was the first AI company in the 1990s to sell a billion dollars of AI products. Liemandt believed there was an urgent time to market issue, encapsulated in his mindset, "My market's going to run away without me," which propelled him to leave his studies to seize the business opportunity. However, he later recognized that there wasn't a strict time to market issue as it took over three years to build the product at Trilogy.

Liemandt's Pivot to Education Reform

Joe Liemandt undergoes a profound shift, channeling his resources and passion into transforming K-12 education.

After Three Years at Trilogy, Liemandt Aimed to Transform K-12 Education

Joe has already left Trilogy three years prior to become the principal of Alpha School, demonstrating his commitment to influencing K-12 education for the next decades of his life. The shift from software to education signifies Liemandt's passion for incorporating AI into an educational framework and applying his capital f ...

The U.S. education system faces significant challenges, with evidence suggesting declining academic performance and a one-size-fits-all approach that does not meet individual students' needs.

Declining Academic Performance and Standards in the US

Nationwide Math and Reading Test Scores Decline Over Two Decades

Joe Liemandt comments on the concerning results of the National Assessment of Education Progress Tests, which demonstrate that only 55% of 12th graders meet the basic level in mathematics and only 67% in reading—the lowest in over 20 years, signaling a declining trend in basic skills.

Grade Inflation and Lowered Standards Mask Student Underperformance

Liemandt also discusses the discrepancy between standardized test scores, which are declining, and grade inflation which masks this underperformance. He notes that the norm tables of the NWEA MAP test reveal an average eighth grader in 2025 knows less than their counterpart in 2020, continuing the downwards trend in knowledge levels. Moreover, aside from the top 1% of students, everyone else's scores are going down. Liemandt reveals that students who receive A's at their private schools can be one to three years behind according to Alpha's tests. He further remarks that students who are B level could be as much as three to seven years behind. This suggests that high grades can be misleading, as even high-performing students are behind in academic standards.

Liemandt discusses how the AP tests have been re-normed because college students know less, making the previously sufficient score of 4 insufficient and resulting in only a score of 5 now being deemed enough for the honors track. This exemplifies a broader issue of lowering academic standards.

Systemic Problems With the One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Education

Model Fails to Ensure Mastery, Leading To Knowledge Gaps

Liemandt remarks on the systemic issue with "janky" educational apps that have gaps, potentially contributing to a false sense of student proficiency and actual knowledge gaps. He argues that without mastery of basics, such as multiplication tables which the education system is moving away from, students lack the necessary foundation to tackle ...

The Alpha School, as discussed by its co-founders Joe Liemandt and Brian, presents a groundbreaking approach to education aiming to revolutionize student engagement, learning efficiency, and overall development using artificial intelligence (AI) and a mastery-based learning model.

Prioritizing Student Engagement and Motivation

Alpha Aims to Make School Enjoyable and Anticipated

At the Alpha School, the co-founders emphasize creating a school system that children not only benefit from but genuinely love. Liemandt discusses the school's vibrant atmosphere, where students can be seen walking on their hands while reciting spelling bee words, showing that learning can be both effective and enjoyable. The sports academy is another example of how Alpha entwines academics with exciting activities, fostering eagerness among students to attend school. Parents have noticed a shift in their children's attitudes, with students waking up early and excited for their school day. With approximately 50% of kids preferring school over vacation, Alpha measures the success of their approach by setting a high standard for the educational experience.

Extrinsic Motivators Help Students Overcome Hurdles and Unlock Potential

Alpha School uses extrinsic motivators, such as time back and financial rewards, to encourage student engagement and performance. By offering middle school kids $1,000 to reach the top 1% of their class, Alpha not only stimulates academic achievement but also prompts a transformative shift in the way students view themselves. This change in self-perception is considered more consequential than the academic knowledge itself, showing students that they are capable of overcoming limitations. Liemandt recounts an instance where such incentives spurred his daughter to improve her self-confidence and excel, fundamentally altering her internal assessment of her abilities.

Leveraging Learning Science and AI Technology

Alpha's AI Curriculum Enables Students to Learn 10x Faster Than Traditional Classes

The AI curriculum at Alpha School allows students to complete grade-level subjects in record time—sometimes in as little as 20 to 30 hours—with the AI tutoring system designed to operate within the students' zone of proximal development. This individualized and mastery-based approach has shown that students can retain 20 to 40 facts per hour, with objectives to improve to 100 facts per hour. The predictive learning AI adapts to the student’s interests, integrating contextual learning, such as teaching statistics through baseball analogies.

Real-Time Data and Feedback Enable Continuous Learning Optimization

At Alpha, AI technology observes student screens, delivering instant coaching to encourage effective learning behaviors. The AI curriculum not only optimizes real-time data and feedback but also informs students of their learning needs, such as when they fall behind and how to remediate knowledge gaps swiftly. Liemandt's daughter’s SAT preparation is an example of personalized feedback systems providing students with a clear pathway toward their academic goals.

Balanced Focus on Academics, Life Skills, and Development

Accelerated Academics, Al ...

Joe Liemandt delves into the significant challenges he encounters as he aims to innovate the educational landscape with his vision of a new teaching model.

Overcoming Entrenched Mindsets and Skepticism About Educational Reform

Resistance To Changing the Traditional School Model

Liemandt acknowledges parental skepticism around new educational models and suggests that to overcome this, parents need to see tangible outcomes from the new schooling system. He faced resistance from parents who believed that suggesting students could learn more in less time would put more academic pressure on children. This resistance is also linked to the protective instinct of parents who do not want to see their children struggle. Moreover, there is resistance from both parents and students to reassessing competency in previously covered material.

Liemandt Must Persuade Stakeholders to Embrace Priority and Method Shifts

One challenge to adopting Alpha's methods is the entrenched belief in traditional grade-level benchmarks, which contradicts the findings of learning science that he advocates. Liemandt also encounters resistance when the idea of shutting down failing schools is proposed, which reveals parents' prioritizing community and existing relationships over academic performance improvements. Parents and students must be convinced to embrace significant shifts in priorities and educational methods, such as a focus on mastery of basics and filling in knowledge gaps rather than advancing through grade level material regardless of mastery. There's also the challenge of overcoming stereotypes of "evil billionaire tech guys" in convincing stakeholders of the benefits of technology in education.

Navigating the Complexities of the Public Education System

Integrating Alpha's Model Into Schools Poses Logistical and Political Hurdles

Liemandt discusses the complex difficulties of integrating Alpha's educational model into the public education system, noting a significant divergence of needs and expectations. Integrating such a model requires substantial changes to the school day structure, with superintendents remaining uncertain on how to employ this model and what children would do for the rest of the day. Upscale private schools even find this model too much of a departure to consider.

Scaling Nationwide Model Faces Funding Challenges

Scaling to a nationwide model is evidently ambitious, aiming to reach at least 1 billion kids within 20 years, which brings considerable economic implications. Although not specified, the context implies that there are challenges associated with funding required to scale up such a model. Liemandt talks about his concept of establishing a c ...