New private school offers two-hour learning model

GT School, a new gifted and talented private school for students kindergarten through eighth grade is opening in Georgetown on 2351 Westinghouse Road in August. 

At the GT School, teaching will be automated. The school uses an AI powered, two-hour learning model developed by Alpha School founder MacKenzie Price. The two-hour learning model lends itself to individualized learning, which could be advantageous for high-achieving students who aren’t challenged by the pace at a traditional school, according to Head of School Tim Eyerman, who called the learning model “revolutionary.”

“We want to have our students, by the time they’re in eighth grade, to be finished with their highschool curriculum— if they start with us in kindergarten,” he said. “We want them to go twice as fast.”

 Mr. Eyerman is a 17-year educator who holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Phoenix in Educational Leadership and Administration. He is pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University online.

Although Mr. Eyerman said that IQ could be an inaccurate measure of intelligence, a student must attain certain test scores on an IQ test to be considered for enrollment. 

“To be qualified as gifted and talented, there are typically three subcategories: mathematical, verbal and nonverbal,” he said. “We’ll do an assessment across those fields to see if the kid falls in the 90th percentile.” 

To avoid the problem of “teaching to the middle,” GT School does not have teachers that lead students through lessons. Mr. Eyerman explained that in a typical class of 25 students at a traditional school, only 15 are being taught appropriately challenging material. This is why the GT School uses an automated teaching program and employs ‘guides’ instead of traditional teachers.  

“Guides are adults with degrees who are there to motivate our students,” he said. “They don’t necessarily need to have a teaching background. In fact, some of our best guides are former athletes or second career individuals who believe in motivating and instilling passion in our students. 

“It’s not just someone who’s there to help them click ‘next’ on their computer. It’s someone who’s really in tune and involved and knows their students better than anyone.” 

Each morning, students do a check-in with their assigned guide, who works with 10 to 12 other students. Students then open their computers to begin their school work. Two hours later, the student is finished with academics and moves on to that day’s life skill workshop. 

““We strongly believe that [our school] will create a love of learning and will create academic champions all within that two hour frame,” Mr. Eyerman said. “Then we use those other hours to instill what we call life skills that they will need in the future. It’s things that they can use in the business world, professional lives and personal lives as they get older.” 

Life skill workshops may include activities such as robotics projects, creating renewable energy by creating electrical circuits or building an online blog. 

GT has the capacity to enroll 100 students, but a final enrollment count has not been approved for the fall. Tuition is about $20,000. More information can be found on the school’s website, https://gt.school.