I can’t entirely allay your concern about “the company”. For better and for worse, AltSchool has a larger mission that may not align with what one expects from a school. Their investors want them to go wide with their formula. Though the formula is still being cooked. Still the upside is they have tons of resources. And as far as I can tell they do screen quite a few teachers and I’m impressed with the ones they hired.
I also agree that the schools don’t seem spacious, and lack some amenities. AltSchool’s latest messaging says the kids are not plugged into computers all day. As I noted above I do find their use of technology to be the right amount. They simply address the quotidian but important questions of “who can pick up my child”, “when am I picking up my child”, what is going on at the school and with my child (the "stream"), and (coming soon) “what is my child studying” (their “playlist”... right now the child and teacher have access but not yet the parent). Such questions have never been well answered at the other schools we’ve had and its a valid differentiator.
Personally, I feel the gifted community is losing ground in this country. Its like 99 wolves and 1 lamb voting on the dinner menu. My hope for AltSchool is that they have a product that can appeal to 100% of the population. Every student would benefit from a customized education. Perhaps they can cover us. At some point I will learn more and, well I'm a bit wary but I wonder if they would ever state a policy on gifted, we want to know.
Last edited by thx1138; 10/12/15 11:41 PM.
