Latest news with #UnboundAcademy
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Arizona approves AI charter school, but education concerns persist
The Brief Arizona's Board of Charter Schools has approved an AI charter school for the state. School officials say learning for core academics is "just 2 to 2.5 hours a day." AI in education is not without controversy, however. PHOENIX - For some, the future is here, as Arizona officials have approved a new charter school that utilizes artificial intelligence. What To Know At a December 2024 meeting for the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, members approved Unbound Academy, an online charter school that teaches with AI. "Our teachers still do a lot of the teaching role, but they don't do the actual teaching of academic concepts because we know that that's something that AI can do really well," said Ivy Xu with the school. Xu said they have tested the teaching method on hundreds of students in Texas, and the school day is short because AI is so effective at tailoring teaching to each student. "Because everything is personalized to the student, learning for core academics is just 2 to 2.5 hours a day," said Xu. After the two-hour school day, kids will be immersed in life skills program that is all about what the kid wants to learn. "Gave the kids an opportunity to learn things that typically, people don't get a chance to try and learn until they're working, once they've graduated," said Kristin Mann. Class sizes, according to Xu, will be equivalent to public schools. For now, the school is only for 4th to 8th grade. Enrollment is capped at a couple of hundred kids for the next school year. AI teaching has been a rather controversial matter. The other side Officials with the country's largest teachers union have said that AI can enhance education. However, they are concerned with where the tech stands currently, adding that humans "must always be the center of the teaching and learning experience, and play a significant role." We asked Xu if there will be teachers involved in this type of learning. What Xu Said "There will be teachers, and we're hiring for Arizona certified teachers, as well as equivalently certified teachers around," said Xu. Members of the Board for Charter Schools also asked officials with the new charter school about student data privacy. "How do you keep that safe?" a board member asked. "What's your safety component for each student?" "We obviously make sure we meet all Federal mandates, in terms of FERPA and privacy," a school official replied. What's next Officials with the school have lso launched a separate AI school that will be dual-language.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New frontier of AI-powered ‘teacher-less' charter schools get mixed reviews from state officials
Artificial intelligence may be the new frontier for childhood schooling, but the idea of teacherless classrooms has received mixed reviews from state education officials. Unbound Academy, a Texas-based institution billing itself as the nation's first virtual, tuition-free charter school for grades 4 through 8, reportedly employs AI to teach students in a way that can be geared toward the individual student without "frustration[s]" sometimes present in traditional schooling. While such schools have seen success in being approved to educate students in Arizona, Unbound was formally rejected by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital. Wy Man Sought Bid To Elect First Ai Bot Mayor In a letter to an Unbound Academy official with a Lancaster office address, Secretary Angela Fitterer said her office has found "deficiencies" in all five criteria needed for approval to teach Keystone State students. Pennsylvania's Charter School law denotes a school must demonstrate sustainable support for the cyber charter school plan from teachers, parents and students. It must also exhibit the capacity to provide "comprehensive learning experiences," enable students to meet academic standards, and abide by Section 1747(a) of the law, which pertains to governance, policy, facility and assessment. Read On The Fox News App "Artificial intelligence tools present unique opportunities in the classroom that educators across Pennsylvania are already exploring how to effectively, ethically and safely implement," a spokeswoman for Fitterer told Fox News Digital. "However, the AI instructional model being proposed by this school is untested and fails to delineate how artificial intelligence tools would be used to ensure that the education provided aligns with PA state standards," she said. In its application, Unbound cited its work with "2HR Learning" an "innovated educational approach that combines AI technology, personalized learning paths, and a focus on life skills development to revolutionize the learning experience," according to the Scranton Times-Tribune. However, Unbound saw success in Arizona, which approved an academy for the 2025-26 school year, while being rejected in three states besides Pennsylvania, according to the Arizona Republic. Two hours are set aside for core instruction, and the rest of the day is geared toward students pursuing "personal interests" and life skills workshops. Unbound Academy co-founder MacKenzie Price told the paper the Grand Canyon State was appealing because of its welcoming of school choice tenets. Another state official on the frontier of educational evolution is Oklahoma Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters. Scotus To Consider Effort To Establish Nation's First Publicly-funded Religious Charter School In recent months, Walters has spearheaded efforts to return the Bible to schools, root out foreign influence in curriculum, and AMIRA – a new literacy initiative, among other endeavors. His state is also set to appear before the Supreme Court this term in regard to interest in allowing a Catholic charter school to receive state funding. Walters said he has not yet seen an application for Unbound or any other AI-powered charter school, but believes that if parents desire the option in the Sooner State, he will consider it. "You have to show parental support that they're asking for it," he said. "You also have to be very transparent. Where's the technology based out of? Who is developing it? We do not want any situation where you've got a CCP or [similar] country, involved there with the technology. . . . You need to be very upfront. Where is the technology developed? What is the curriculum look like?" With Oklahoma's major agricultural sector, many schoolchildren work hours on their family farms when they're not in class. Walters said virtual learning has helped Oklahoma families in the near-term, and suggested an AI school would have a similar setup. He said his state is always open to the next frontier of childhood education. "Catholics have some of the most successful schools in our state in the country. They brought us a model that said we'd like to try out so many of the things that have worked for us in our private schools at a charter school. We can make it available for more kids," he said. "We appreciate the Catholic Church for putting the application before us [and] the radical atheists and teachers union folks – they're dead wrong on this." Walters said – just as Harrisburg deemed the AI-powered charter school did not meet its qualifications – Oklahoma believes the new Catholic charter school met its criteria. "This is the next frontier of school choice – we want more schools. We want more charter schools." Fox News Digital reached out to Unbound Academy for comment and further information on its other state article source: New frontier of AI-powered 'teacher-less' charter schools get mixed reviews from state officials
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania Rejects Application for Cyber Charter School with AI Teacher and Two Hours of Daily Class
This article was originally published in Pennsylvania Capital-Star. The Pennsylvania Department of Education on Wednesday denied an application for a controversial cyber charter school that uses artificial intelligence called Unbound Academy, which was seeking to operate in Pennsylvania. The proposed school would have been part of a multi-state network of schools where classes are led by AI tutors and human staff serve as 'guides.' Related 'The artificial intelligence instructional model being proposed by this school is untested and fails to demonstrate how the tools, methods and providers would ensure alignment to Pennsylvania academic standards,' the Department of Education's decision said. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Human teachers' unions and advocacy groups applauded the decision. 'AI can help teachers, but it can never replace a teacher guiding a student's learning in a classroom,' Pennsylvania State Education Association President Aaron Chapin said in a statement. 'Pennsylvania's students are better off because the Department of Education rejected this cyber charter school application today.' Susan Spicka, the executive director of Education Voters of PA, a nonprofit advocacy group, called Unbound Academy's cyber charter application 'egregiously deficient.' Related The decision to reject the application cited multiple issues with Unbound Academy's initial proposal. Those included concerns about unrealistic projections for enrollment growth, whether the school could attain insurance and its ability to support special education based on the proposed budget and tuition rates. The Department of Education also said Unbound Academy's application failed to provide sufficient information about the curriculum, courses and planned student activities. 'The department finds multiple, significant deficiencies,' the decision read. 'These deficiencies, individually, collectively, and in any combination, are cause to deny the application. ' The website for 2 Hour Learning, the company that provides the AI model Unbound Academy hoped to use, says their students 'crush academics' at an accelerated pace with only two hours of academic instruction per day, based on data from their flagship 'Alpha School.' 'Traditional school is broken. It's outdated, full of busywork, and sadly for our kids, often a waste of time,' Mackenzie Price, the co-founder of 2 Hour Learning, says in a promotional video on their website. She said students at schools using their technology can learn 'twice as much in two hours per day as they would in six hours of traditional school.' Related The company says their program is already being used in schools in Texas and Florida, with more set to open in California and Arizona this fall. Since it was announced, the proposed cyber charter school raised red flags with critics of cyber charter schools, as well as lawmakers in Harrisburg. Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny), the minority chair of the Senate Education Committee, said she plans to introduce a bill calling for a moratorium on the approval of new cyber charter schools, citing Unbound Academy specifically. A memo seeking co-sponsors said operators of schools like Unbound Academy 'perceive our state as ripe for profiteering off of Pennsylvania's children and taxpayers.' The proposal is backed by Education Voters of PA. Related There are currently 14 cyber charter schools operating in Pennsylvania, and they've experienced an enrollment boom since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. The schools are funded with taxpayer money, taken in part from the budgets of local school districts where their students would have otherwise enrolled. Though last year's changes to the school funding formula eased that burden by providing reimbursements for some of those lost funds. This week, Education Voters of Pennsylvania released a report on spending at the state's largest online charter school, Commonwealth Charter Academy. They found that hundreds of thousands of dollars were used on vehicles, dining, travel, entertainment and retail purchases. Commonwealth Charter Academy's chief branding and government relations officer told the Capital-Star that the findings were 'cherry-picked' and the expenditures were 'well within what is customary for organizations of like size that have a statewide footprint' Related A 2019 Department of Education report found that students at cyber charter schools typically performed worse or the same as those in traditional public schools based on academic tests. However, cyber charter students typically had higher rates of attendance and graduation. A contact listed on Unbound Academy's application did not respond to a request for comment. Related Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor for questions: info@
