From the Koan Team

Reflections on Learning

Thoughts on education, AI, and the invisible process of becoming a thinker. Written for teachers, school leaders, and anyone who believes learning deserves better.

Latest

The $55,000 Question: What Happens When AI Replaces the Teacher?

Alpha Schools is enrolling students in Chicago for an all-AI curriculum with no traditional teachers. The model is bold. The question it raises is even bolder.

Alpha Schools charges $55,000 per year for an education where AI handles instruction and human "guides" handle everything else. It is a fascinating experiment. It is also asking the wrong question.

March 31, 20267 min read
Future of EducationAI in SchoolsLearning VisibilitySocratic Method
Read essay

The School With No Teachers

A private school replacing teachers with AI tutors is expanding nationally. It surfaces the most important question in education right now: what exactly is a teacher for?

Mar 285 min read

A School With No Teachers Costs $55,000.

Alpha Schools charges $55,000 a year for an education where AI does the teaching and adults serve as 'guides.' It is a bold experiment. It is also a mirror for what we believe learning actually requires.

Mar 276 min read

The Course That Completed Itself

When an agentic AI tool called Einstein completed entire college courses inside Canvas, the LMS responded by building its own AI agent for teachers. But the real lesson is not about who builds the better bot.

Mar 266 min read

NYC Wrote the Rules. But They Missed the Question.

NYC released its long-awaited AI guidelines for public schools. They address privacy and safety. They do not address the one thing that matters most: whether students are actually learning.

Mar 256 min read

The Crutch Effect: When AI Helps Too Much

The OECD's Digital Education Outlook 2026 reveals a troubling paradox: students using AI perform dramatically better, until they don't have it anymore. Purpose-built Socratic tools are the exception.

Mar 226 min read

The Screen Didn't Fail Us. We Failed the Screen.

A Fortune investigation blames declining test scores on screens. A Harvard study shows AI tutoring outperforming expert instruction. Both are right. The question is what we do about the gap between them.

Mar 205 min read