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We pay our "Teachers" $100k. Most don’t make the cut. — Transcript

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0:00The truth is, we are on the front lines
0:03of completely redefining who should be
0:06leading our classrooms, how they should
0:08be qualified, and what their actual
0:11dayto-day job looks like. And because of
0:14that, I get so much push back online
0:16about the fact that our guides are not
0:19required to come from a teaching
0:20background. You don't have certified
0:23teachers.
0:24I've heard that one a lot. And it is a
0:27valid concern. We're all used to growing
0:29up with teachers. So, I do want to
0:32address this. But instead of talking big
0:33picture today, we are going to get super
0:36granular with the person who actually
0:38masterminds this entire guide
0:41organization all across Alpha. Guides
0:44are what make our school what it is.
0:47They are the secret sauce. And joining
0:50me is Dr. Seth Bedura. She is the
0:52director of K through8 at Alpha. She is
0:54the person who vets and finds all these
0:57amazing people. when I call her and say,
0:59"Steph, we're opening a new school in
1:01two weeks," she's like, "I got you."
1:03It's a lot of fun. So, she is a huge
1:05counterpart that works with me all the
1:06time. And Steph is going to give us a
1:08look behind the scenes at exactly how
1:11and why these guides are chosen. And
1:13hopefully, we can change some minds on
1:15why the people teaching our kids can and
1:18sometimes should look totally different,
1:21whether they have a traditional teaching
1:22background [music] or not.
1:26Welcome to the future of education
1:27podcast hosted by McKenzie Price.
1:30McKenzie is the founder of a
1:32revolutionary new school model that's
1:34disrupting education through AI. Join us
1:36as [music] we discuss the latest in
1:38education innovation.
1:42>> So Steph, thank you so much for joining
1:44me.
1:44>> You're welcome. Thanks for having me.
1:46You really are a superhero in this
1:48entire school organization because we
1:50have had so much incredible growth and
1:53everybody always worries that you know
1:55what's going to happen as we grow. How
1:57are we going to make sure that our
1:58guides continue to be great? And I'll
2:01tell you what, you have crushed that
2:03job. Every guide I meet is like how can
2:06you be amazing? How can you be this
2:07amazing? They're so good. So you're
2:09you're really an expert at finding this
2:12incredible talent. we have been dealing
2:14with some pretty big numbers. I'm
2:16curious uh just give us a little bit of
2:18background on how many people have
2:19applied recently and and what kind of
2:22people are they?
2:22>> So I believe in this last year we had
2:24around 40,000 applicants to the guide
2:27role.
2:27>> Wow.
2:28>> And actually just in the last 3 months
2:30we've hired onboarded and trained about
2:3460 guys to prep for the upcoming school
2:36year. And the types of folks that we get
2:39well obviously the common through line
2:40is must love kids.
2:41>> Must love kids. must love kids. But to
2:43give concrete data, about 20% of our
2:46guys actually do come from a traditional
2:47teacher role.
2:48>> Okay. 20%. I was thinking in the last
2:51couple years that it had crept up to
2:52like 50%, but it's still only 20% come
2:55from traditional teaching background.
2:57Wow.
2:57>> It's still a 20% and I have to brag
3:00about our former traditional teachers
3:02and that they are the top 1% of teachers
3:04out there. Fullulbright scholars, TFA
3:06alums, teachers of the year. We also
3:09have some board certified teachers on
3:10board. So fantastic group of folks.
3:12>> Let's talk a little bit about that
3:14audience for a second. Those people who
3:17you know have been working in
3:18traditional classrooms as teachers and
3:20have decided to come to Alpha. What do
3:22you hear about the reason they decide to
3:24come look at Alpha? The most common
3:27theme I hear and it's actually in the
3:29interview when I say why do you want to
3:31be a guide at Alpha? And they always say
3:33that they love their job, they love
3:36kids, but the system that they're
3:38working in is limiting. They are the
3:41squeaky wheel at school. They're the
3:44person who stands up in the faculty
3:45meeting and says, "This is wrong. We
3:47should do it different." And people
3:50don't like it. So, they do their
3:51research and they find Alpha and they
3:53think, "This is the haven. This is where
3:55I need to be." One of the things I
3:56always love talking to our guides who
3:59come from traditional teaching
4:00backgrounds because they show up and
4:02they're like, "Okay, this is everything
4:04that I wanted when it comes to being
4:07around children and making that impact
4:08and the difference without so many of
4:11the kind of bureaucratic challenges that
4:14again come from what I consider to be a
4:16broken system." One of the things I've
4:18also heard and I'm curious what you
4:20think is a lot of times when teachers
4:23who have been working in a traditional
4:24classroom they come to alpha and there's
4:27a lot of habits they have to break.
4:28Let's talk a little bit about that. I
4:30think I'll differentiate the teacher
4:32role and the guide role by saying the
4:35teacher unit of work is the academic
4:37content and the guide unit of work is
4:40the kid. And so in terms of habits to
4:42break, a teacher shows up in the morning
4:44thinking, okay, I have designed and now
4:47I need to deliver this really awesome
4:49engaging lesson on fractions for a
4:51guide. They don't have to think about
4:53teaching the fractions. So back to habit
4:55to break, but they do have to be very
4:57tuned into each kid. They have to know
4:59them very, very well. They have to
5:01recognize when they're stuck on the
5:03fractions lesson in the apps. They have
5:05to recognize when the motivation is
5:07dropping and they have to be able to
5:08step in. So habit to break would be
5:11don't step in and teach the content.
5:13>> Let the kid not just struggle through
5:15it, but use open-ended questions. Ask
5:18them if they've reread the question.
5:20Insert learning strategies in there that
5:22will then help them become an
5:23independent, self-driven learner later.
5:26Right? At the end of the day, we want to
5:27be able to remove the guide and the kids
5:29self- sustaining. So that's habit one is
5:31don't teach the content. So, do you ask
5:33through the interview process when
5:35you're talking to someone who comes from
5:36a traditional teaching background like
5:38are you okay with the fact that you will
5:40not be teaching academics?
5:43Sometimes I do. So, the the singular
5:46question and this is a spoiler alert if
5:47people are going to interview with me,
5:48but the single question I ask always is
5:52tell me a kids specific story of a time
5:54that you had to hold a kid to a really
5:56high standard or a super ambitious bar
5:59and you also provided the support for
6:01them to meet it. Now, if the teacher
6:04gives me a story that is purely based on
6:06instruction and how they tailored their
6:08lesson plan, then I later ask the
6:10follow-up question. I just flat out say,
6:14okay, so final question, are you going
6:16to miss teaching? [laughter]
6:18>> Yeah,
6:18>> they usually say, you know what, I
6:20might. And I actually then get to tell
6:22them, you're still going to get that cup
6:24filled 1,000% if not more. One is you
6:27get to invest more in every single kid.
6:29Get to know them, personalize the
6:30motivation. But two, the teaching side
6:32really does come out in the life skills
6:34workshops in the afternoon.
6:36>> Well, we should talk a little bit about
6:37that because I get so much flak for the
6:40fact that we do not call our guides
6:42teachers. You know, everybody's always,
6:44you know, it makes a big thing in the
6:46press when people are like, "They don't
6:47have teachers." And I've had so many
6:49people come and say, "Mackenzie, just
6:51make this easier and call your guides
6:53teachers." In fact, about a year and a
6:55half ago, we came to you and the guides
6:58and we said, "Can we just make this all
7:00easier on ourselves every day and just
7:01say you guys are teachers instead of
7:03guides?" And uh tell me what happened
7:05there.
7:06>> Yeah. So, there was um basically an
7:09uproar. The guide said, "Absolutely not.
7:13We are not teachers. Why are we going to
7:15listen to all this feedback and just
7:16conform and call ourselves teachers
7:18because it's easier for people to
7:20understand? Let's just do a better job
7:22explaining what a guide is.
7:24>> Yeah. So, they gave me some work to do
7:26explaining that. Yeah. No, I think we
7:27ended up we put a survey out and it was
7:29like 78% of our guides were like, "No."
7:33And there were many great reasons they
7:35had for that because they're like,
7:35"First of all, we aren't teaching
7:37academic material. It would also
7:40confuse, I think, what parents expect
7:42and what they think is happening." And
7:44then actually, we talked to kids about
7:46it, too. And the kids were like, "But
7:48but they're not." Like at my old school,
7:50the teachers would just stand there and
7:52they would talk at us and our guides are
7:54right there next to us and they play
7:56with us and they interact with us and
7:57they're doing all these things. And so,
7:59yes, for any of you guys out there who
8:01are are criticizing, why do we call
8:03these people guides? We're making up new
8:05names. Sorry, that's just
8:06>> that's what they wanted to be called.
8:08>> That's what they are. They're guides.
8:09They really are guiding on this. And
8:11then when can you tell that maybe
8:13somebody who's come from a traditional
8:15teaching background, they say they they
8:17want to be at alpha, they think they're
8:18going to be great at alpha, but you're
8:19like, I can tell you're not.
8:22>> Great question. So that's actually habit
8:24number two. So the first one was, okay,
8:25just don't teach content. Boom.
8:27Hardline. The second one is probably the
8:29the singular framework that makes our
8:31guides very successful. We we grabbed it
8:33from David Joerger, is high standards
8:34and high support. Most adults kind of
8:36vacasillate toward one or the other or
8:38they're better at being really rigid and
8:40the enforcer or they're better at being
8:42very warm and nurturing. Our guides have
8:44to be able to do both at the exact same
8:46time. So habit number two to break and
8:49maybe the time when I start to say hm
8:52this person might not be the one to
8:53unlock the potential of every kid in
8:55their guide group is lowering standards.
8:58>> So it is
8:59>> especially in a role where we tell you
9:01invest in every single kid. We have
9:03designed a system where you literally
9:05spend your day getting to know these
9:07kids and hanging out with them and
9:09motivating and inspiring them. When you
9:12see those kids hit struggle, it's hard.
9:14It takes an emotional toll. And our
9:17best, greatest, the majority of our
9:19guides think, "Yes, but I would be doing
9:21a disservice if I lowered that bar."
9:23Right? We our guide team, as I say,
9:26we're building the best team of coaches
9:27in the world. Full stop. Not just in
9:29education. We believe in kids potential
9:31so much that it would be wrong to set
9:34low bars and we love and care about them
9:36too much to let them chase ambitious
9:38bars alone.
9:39>> And what's an example of when you see a
9:41guide or a potential guide lowering the
9:43standard?
9:44>> Great question. So our academic goals
9:46are they're rigorous and the baseline of
9:49let's just say for example 120 XP that
9:51equals 120 minutes of focused effort.
9:54>> That's our academic block in the
9:55mornings. It's 120 minutes of focused
9:57effort and kids earn these experience
10:00points basically for putting in that
10:02time of focused work.
10:04>> Correct. So fourth grade kid, he is just
10:07struggling. He is struggling in math,
10:09stuck in fractions, not able to get the
10:12120 XP. a guide who would get on my
10:14radar of lowering standards would say,
10:16"Okay, well, maybe maybe we could just
10:20lower the math XP for for a couple weeks
10:23and uh you know, let's ramp them up to
10:26get there." A great guide, the majority
10:28of our guides would think this is a
10:30motivation issue. It's not a difficulty
10:32issue. This kid is totally capable. I
10:35just need to light the fire under him.
10:36Let's give you some examples of our
10:38individualized motivational models
10:39because this might be one of my favorite
10:42parts of the job is just hearing all the
10:44awesome ideas that the guys come up
10:45with. We have the Taylor Swift dance
10:47party once. So, we had a third grader.
10:49She declared herself, "I'm not a reading
10:51person and I hate this reading app. It
10:53is the worst app."
10:54>> Uh, and her guide actually didn't come
10:56from a teaching app.
10:57>> Customer feedback we get, by the way, on
10:58our alpha read.
11:00>> That reading app has Well, actually,
11:01this is before reading app is gone now
11:03with Alpha Read. This guy actually
11:05didn't come from a a teaching
11:06background. She was a a performing arts
11:08actress background. And she knew that
11:11this non-reader girl loved Taylor Swift.
11:14And so she said, "Okay, here's the
11:17thing. I totally know you're capable of
11:19doing these reading lessons. 100% you're
11:21capable. So every time you pass a
11:24reading lesson to Mastery, you and I are
11:26going to go in that room over there and
11:27we're going to have a one minute Taylor
11:28Swift dance party." And it's so wild.
11:32All of a sudden, she was mastering those
11:34reading lessons. And the best part of
11:36the story is it's not just she was able
11:39to check the box of doing the reading
11:40lessons, but her view of herself,
11:43>> her labeling of herself of I'm not a
11:45reading kid. Now she's like, I can read.
11:48I I can do anything really, right? Those
11:50confidence anchors that we call them
11:52that the guys are are engineering um
11:54those wins, it just boosts kids
11:56self-efficacy and then their confidence
11:59increases. And then no matter what we
12:00throw in front of them, no matter how
12:02high the bar, we can always point back
12:04to that and be like, "Do you remember
12:05when?" Great. That's we are again. We're
12:08going to push through it.
12:08>> So Steph, we have gotten a lot of
12:11attention uh at our schools because
12:13we've had so many people who don't come
12:15from an education background who come to
12:17work in our schools as guides. And of
12:19course, that always sounds so shocking
12:21to people of like what? They're not a
12:23teacher. They're not certified. And I'm
12:25like, you should see some of these
12:27people and the backgrounds they had
12:29before they came to work at Alpha. Can
12:31you just give me some examples of the
12:3380% of our guides who come from a
12:36non-eing background?
12:37>> Yeah, 100%. Kind of two sets throughine,
12:40high performance, high standards.
12:42They've worked in a role where they are
12:44no stranger to having achieved something
12:46ambitious and or being coached to
12:48achieve something ambitious. So kind of
12:50two buckets. One, sports world. So it's
12:52my background as well. might be a little
12:53biased in there, but we attract former
12:56elite pro athletes and/or coaches. Um,
12:59that is a huge huge bulk of the the 80%.
13:02The other part, and this is where it's
13:04just insane, is we've we've attracted
13:07Google software engineers, Amazon
13:09product leads, 17-year army vet who
13:12served in nine countries and led teams
13:14all around the world, a stir to sole
13:16head coach, and just these incredible
13:19resumes where, you know, at the
13:21beginning when you, you know, you said
13:23we've done amazing things, we've grown
13:24and we're still delivering the three
13:26commitments to every kid. It really is
13:27because our guides are phenomenally
13:29talented.
13:30>> Yeah. I was at one of our schools and
13:33there's a guide who the kids just
13:35absolutely love. And I was at a parent
13:37event and one of the parents came up to
13:39me and just said, "I cannot believe that
13:42you are able to hire the kind of talent
13:45that you have gotten." And he gave the
13:47example of this guy. He had worked in a
13:48private equity fund and was making like
13:51a million dollars a year and he left his
13:53job because he's like, "What am I doing
13:55here? I want to go and change the world
13:57and impact young people." and he is just
14:00fantastic. And I mean, these parents
14:01were so thrilled with this guy. And you
14:04know, you're sitting here like, "Okay,
14:06you went from like a private equity
14:08world to working with fourth and fifth
14:09graders. All right, let's go." My
14:12daughter's favorite guide was a lawyer,
14:14went to Harvard and was an attorney for
14:15five years. And it's always funny
14:17because Chloe, she's been on our podcast
14:19before. She often says she does more law
14:21work now working with our high school
14:23students than she did when she was a
14:25lawyer. And by the way, if you want to
14:27hear from Chloe, who talks about how to
14:30help kids set big goals, those are
14:32episodes 258, 259, and 260. Steph, why
14:36don't you tell us a little bit about
14:38your background? Yeah, sure. So, my
14:41story does start with my first passion,
14:43which is soccer. Grew up playing soccer
14:45at at a high level. And it was in high
14:47school when my second passion started to
14:49emerge. I was running summer camps and
14:50doing private lessons for kids. And
14:52something lit up in me when I would see
14:54a kid able to do or conquer, whether it
14:57was mindset or an actual skill on the
14:59field, something that they didn't think
15:00was possible before. I was like, "Okay,
15:03there there's something else here
15:04besides the soccer stuff." So, I find
15:05myself at Loyal Marmont University,
15:07division 1 athlete. I actually went in
15:10premed. I'm a firstg kid of Asian
15:13immigrants. So, my two options going
15:14into college were, yes, you're going to
15:16play soccer stuff, but then you're going
15:17to either be a doctor or a lawyer. Okay.
15:19Of course.
15:19>> Right. So, pediatrician, I thought,
15:21compromise. I want to work with kids.
15:23I'll give you guys the doctor. Here we
15:24go. And so, teeing up a true story. This
15:26is a true story and not my proudest
15:28moment, but it's my summer going into my
15:29freshman year. I'm sitting with my
15:31student athlete adviser and I'm looking
15:33at this schedule of biochem calculus
15:36thinking to my eyes are crossing and I'm
15:38thinking, there's no way I'm going to be
15:39able to focus on soccer enough with this
15:41schedule. So, I I look at my adviser and
15:43I ask, what is the easiest possible
15:45major I can do and still work with kids?
15:47Again, not my proudest moment. And he
15:50looked at me and he said, "Do you want
15:51to be a teacher?" This is this is a true
15:54story. So, I had two thoughts enter my
15:55mind in that moment. The first one in
15:57this order. The first one was that is
15:58extremely concerning.
15:59>> Teachers have the most important job in
16:01the world. They spend the most
16:03cumulative hours with kids outside of
16:05family members, molding the next
16:07generation of our society. In what world
16:09should that pipeline be the easiest one?
16:11That was my first thought. Um, my second
16:13thought was,
16:14>> I'm in. Let's do it. [laughter] So fast
16:17forward, fourth grade teacher, also
16:18coaching soccer, loved being in the
16:21classroom, not necessarily for the
16:23delivering instruction piece, on brand,
16:25but because of the culture piece. You
16:27get a room of 35 random kids who are
16:29thrown in there together. They don't
16:30know each other, and somehow you have to
16:32figure out how to make them think,
16:33operate, feel like a team, and build
16:35this culture where they're uplifting
16:36each other, holding each other
16:38accountable. I loved that part and the
16:40gamifying learning. I just I loved it.
16:42But I would walk the schools of this
16:43very traditional Catholic private school
16:45thinking, man, there's got to be more
16:47here that we can do for these kids. So,
16:49I was inspired to go back to school, get
16:51my doctorate in educational leadership
16:53at USC. And my thinking then was, I'm
16:56going to fix this. I'm going to get my
16:58doctorate and I'm going to become a
16:59professor. And I have two goals. One, I
17:02am going to increase the rigor of these
17:04classes for teacher training to match
17:06how hard the job actually is. And then
17:08my second one was, let's just make more
17:10schools better. in progress on that. And
17:12then the LA Galaxy called me, MLS team
17:14based in LA, and they asked me to come
17:16build out their school program from
17:18scratch for their student athletes and
17:19their academy program. So based on a
17:21European model that's been around for
17:23decades, but it's basically soccer in
17:25the morning most of the day and then
17:26they squeeze in school in the afternoon.
17:29Yeah,
17:29>> correct. This is what opened my eyes to,
17:31okay, I don't have to fix this system by
17:34becoming a a professor. You can actually
17:36just completely rethink this. School
17:37does not have to look like school.
17:40Learning does not have to happen six
17:42hours a day. It can happen anywhere,
17:44anytime. And we can build schools around
17:46and for kids versus around the bell
17:50schedule that's been around for over a
17:52century. Anyway, was doing that job,
17:54loved it. Intersection of my two
17:55passions, soccer and education. And then
17:57casually scrolling LinkedIn, came across
18:00a job description. It was titled head
18:02coach. It piqued my interest. And I
18:04opened it and I I literally felt like
18:06someone wrote a love letter to me. It
18:08was titled head coach. Um, but it was in
18:10a school setting. It's all about high
18:12standards, putting kids first, unlocking
18:13their limitless potential. So, I I
18:15applied to the job that night. And fast
18:18forward 5 years later, here we are.
18:20>> Here we are. Absolutely. So, bucket one
18:21is sports. What is bucket two?
18:23>> The other bucket is folks who come from
18:25different industries. So, we have
18:26business, tech, investment, former
18:29Google software engineer, Amazon product
18:31lead, investment banker, finance
18:33consultant, you name it. various
18:35industries, doctors, lawyers, they find
18:37us and and frankly a lot of these people
18:40did want to work with kids. Truly, their
18:43passion is helping bring out people's
18:45potential, but they did not entertain
18:47the teacher role because you just can't
18:50you can't build a career and a living
18:51off of what we pay traditional teachers.
18:54One of the things that's very unique
18:56about our alpha organization is that uh
19:00the career path does look different than
19:02in a traditional school. I think that
19:04teachers go to a traditional school
19:06environment and they're like, "Okay, I'm
19:07going to be a third grade teacher for 14
19:10years. Maybe I'll move to sixth grade at
19:12some point or I'm going to teach science
19:14at this different grade level." Here
19:16things look a lot different. Let's talk
19:18a little bit about what that looks like.
19:20>> Yeah, I think one key difference is in
19:23education they reward tenure.
19:25>> So they just reward being simply being
19:28in that role for a very long time and
19:30even then the reward is incremental. I
19:33think your salary will increase like 10%
19:36but over the span of 25 years.
19:38>> For us, we actually don't care about
19:40tenure. We don't care. What we care
19:42about is are you delivering the three
19:44commitments to every single kid in your
19:46guide group? Not to eight of them. Not
19:49to all 10, but just a couple per. It is
19:51all three commitments to every single
19:52kid. And when you get promoted at Alpha,
19:55when you grow from a guide, so
19:57accountable to the three commitments to
19:59your guide group and you grow into a
20:01lead guide, accountable to the three
20:03commitments for an entire campus, the
20:05job is still fundamentally the same. In
20:07fact, I tell lead guide candidates all
20:09the time, I'm not building a team of
20:12middle managers. If you are picturing a
20:15traditional principal sitting in the
20:17corner office of the school looking at a
20:19computer screen and just telling
20:21teachers what to do without ever
20:22entering the classroom.
20:24Please go apply for that role. That is
20:26not this role. Our lead guides, my best
20:29uh sports analogy because I love those
20:30is player coaches. They're still on the
20:32field next to the guides. They know the
20:34kids just as well as the guides do and
20:36they actually get to coach and lead the
20:38other guides through example. So, one of
20:40the things that we've talked about is
20:41that it's not about tenure at Alpha. It
20:43really is about performance. Let's talk
20:45a little bit about how our guides are
20:47evaluated once they are hired.
20:49Evaluation is actually very simple. It
20:51all comes back to the three commitments.
20:53So, every guide is accountable to
20:55delivering the three commitments to
20:56every single kid. And those three
20:58commitments,
20:59>> those three commitments are do they love
21:01school? This past school year, we
21:03cranked up the rigger on that one. And
21:04now it's do they love school more than
21:06vacation which brag moment we are
21:09between 40 to 60% depending on the day.
21:11So about half of our kids
21:12>> depending on the vacation true
21:15>> depending on the workshops for the
21:17session but yeah that is anywhere
21:18between 40 and 60% of our students say I
21:21would rather go to you know school than
21:24go on vacation. And actually you know I
21:26was in one of our cities and a parent
21:28came up to me and she said I have to
21:30tell you something. She said, "My son
21:33did not say that he would rather go to
21:35school than go on vacation. He ranked no
21:37to that survey question. However, he has
21:39begged us to sign up for 9 weeks of
21:42alpha summer. So, I think you should go
21:45ahead and change that survey result
21:47because clearly he did not answer
21:49accurately." And I had a good laugh on
21:51that that I was like, "You're right. I
21:52guess if he's choosing to go to Alpha
21:54Summer for 9 weeks, he probably would
21:56prefer to go to school versus vacation."
21:58I actually have an awesome anecdote on
22:00the school versus vacation. little bit
22:02of a tangent, but uh we actually had a a
22:05student come back from a luxurious
22:07two-eek vacation in England and she came
22:10back and we happened to be doing our
22:12student surveys, which we do at the end
22:13of every session, of which we have five,
22:15where we just asked the kids, yes, no,
22:16do you love school? Yes, no, do you love
22:18school more than vacation? And this
22:20child just came from a pretty killer
22:21vacation. So, she said no.
22:23>> Totally fair. That guide and actually
22:25it's part of our system. every session.
22:27You know, even if we're in aggregate 99%
22:30at something, we will spend hours
22:32figuring out how to get the 1% on the
22:34other side. So, this guide made it her
22:37mission to get this student to love
22:38school more than vacation. My favorite
22:40part of the story is that her recipe for
22:43getting her on the other side was
22:44actually cranking up the rigor for this
22:46student. So, she's a younger student and
22:48they have what they call you toucan
22:50challenges as part of their growth
22:51mindset stuff. So, she actually curated
22:54Ukan, Toucan challenges around this
22:56student's interests and also created a
22:59cross-campus book club for this student
23:01because the student loves to read. Um,
23:03>> but we don't read books at Alpha.
23:06>> I've been getting that a lot on this
23:08lately. Okay, that's incredible.
23:10>> Yes.
23:11>> So, this guide was able to make sure
23:12Well, that's a really big point because
23:14we talked a little bit about what you're
23:15looking for in guides is guides who will
23:17hold high standards. And the reason we
23:20think that is so important is because we
23:21find that kids actually crave the
23:24ability to you know meet these high
23:27standards like they are happy when they
23:30are told by an adult like hey you are
23:32capable of doing big things and let's
23:34try some really challenging things that
23:36are going to stretch you that are going
23:37to push you and especially as you
23:39mentioned when they meet those bars
23:42there's no better feeling in the world
23:43and then our other commitment
23:44>> our second commitment is learn to act in
23:46two hours as measured by MAP our third
23:48party test from NWA. So let's talk about
23:50that for a second because you said the
23:52guides are responsible for delivering
23:53the three commitments and yet we use an
23:56AI learning platform to deliver the
23:58academics and I think often people then
24:00think well okay if the guide's not
24:02teaching academics how are they the ones
24:04responsible for delivering the 2x
24:07learning during this time so let's just
24:09break that down what that really means
24:11>> correct so as we say edtech solves 10%
24:15of the problem and 90% of the problem is
24:17motivation so the 10% % if if a kid
24:20isn't learning, it's either one, the
24:22content is either too hard or too easy.
24:24That's the 10% side. That's the edte
24:25side. The other one is they're not
24:28motivated, they're stuck, they're
24:29spiraling. There's something where we
24:31just need to help them break through.
24:33That's the guides. Whether it is
24:35motivating them with a Taylor Swift
24:37dance party, or it also could be a
24:40mindset side, too, where we had a kid,
24:42he's a baseball kid, but he did not like
24:43math. Uh and because of that every time
24:47he would do his math lessons he would
24:49out loud do this negative selft talk he
24:52luckily was paired with a guide who was
24:54also a baseball guy.
24:55>> Oh so lucky
24:58>> crazy how that [clears throat] happened.
24:59Yeah. So the guide put a baseball field
25:02on his table where he worked and made a
25:05little player with the student's face on
25:06it and every time the student used
25:08positive selft talk when he was
25:09struggling in math he got to move his
25:11little player a base and when he got it
25:13all the way around to the home base then
25:15him and his guide got to go play catch.
25:17>> Amazing.
25:17>> And so just these cool stories of yes
25:19that actually does move the needle. It
25:21absolutely does and that's what we we
25:23always see is these guides are so
25:26creative and they're so thoughtful and
25:29individualized when they think about
25:31okay what is going to help this
25:33particular child in whatever they're
25:35doing academically that's not just from
25:37a I'm teaching a better lesson but
25:39really how am I motivating them how am I
25:41helping them connect so that they feel
25:43capable and like I can absolutely hit
25:46these goals and then our third
25:47commitment
25:48>> our third commitment students will learn
25:50life skills Okay, so that is a really
25:52big piece of the puzzle. In fact, it is,
25:55I would argue, probably the majority of
25:58what our guides spend their time and
26:00effort creating, building, and
26:03facilitating, and you could argue also
26:05teaching in that way. Let's talk about
26:08what the guides role is in these life
26:10skills workshops that our students spend
26:12their afternoons doing.
26:13>> Our life skills workshops, we package it
26:15up. We call it Alpha Core purposefully.
26:17Uh to us, it's the analog to common
26:19core. So if you look at the academic
26:21standards, you can go to third grade,
26:23you can go to math, you see exactly what
26:25standards a kid should know to declare
26:27mastery of third grade math. There is no
26:30analog to that on a quantitative
26:32objective nature for life skills. And
26:35that is what we believe we have built
26:36with Alpha Core. So we've we've built
26:38the foundational curriculum. We have our
26:40life skills. We have the stacks, the
26:42standards or I can statements from preK
26:44up all the way to 12. And the guide job
26:47is the beautiful part and I frame it for
26:49them as the broccoli and cheese analogy.
26:51And so I tell them listen the org we
26:54have done the work of we've built out
26:56the broccoli. It's all there right it's
26:58the life skill. So,
26:59>> which by the way, we didn't have that
27:01kind of originally because when you
27:03think about life skills, there's so many
27:04different life skills that people can
27:05talk about. And it it did take Alpha a
27:07little bit of time to say, okay, what
27:09are the core life skills that we want to
27:11focus on? And what we came up with were
27:13kind of five buckets, right? It's
27:15leadership and teamwork, financial
27:17literacy and entrepreneurship, public
27:20speaking and storytelling, grit and hard
27:23work, and relationship building and
27:25socialization. Those are the five
27:27buckets that we kind of group our life
27:29skills in. Now, within that, there's all
27:31kinds of sublife skills that kids work
27:33on as well as growth mindset strategies
27:35that we think about that we're kind of
27:37doing. But that's kind of the broccoli
27:38that Alpha has provided to guides to
27:40say, "These are the focus points and
27:42here's kind of what we want to see from
27:44preK all the way up through high
27:46school."
27:47>> Yes. Yes. Exactly. And so the broccoli's
27:50there and I get to stand up during staff
27:53days between sessions and look at the
27:54guides and say, "All right, time to get
27:56together and think of the best cheese
27:58possible to put on this broccoli." Um,
28:00and so some examples that I love are,
28:02you know, if if you stood up in front of
28:04a bunch of third graders and said, "We
28:06are going to spend eight weeks learning
28:08about grit. You are all going to read
28:10Angela Duckworth's book and then you
28:12will write a report and you will read
28:14that report in front of your friends."
28:16They would all be like, "Boring. I'm
28:18out." Right?
28:20>> We look at our guys and we say, "The
28:22kids are going to spend eight weeks on
28:23grit. You're going to figure out the
28:25coolest, most exciting cheese to pour
28:27all over that grit so they can pass an
28:29awesome, rigorous, objective alpha test
28:31at the end." And that is where things
28:33that were born out of it were third
28:35graders being handed a Rubik's cube.
28:38Just hand it to them cold. Zero adult
28:40help. You have to figure out how to
28:42solve that. Boom. Another one for
28:44entrepreneurship.
28:45We don't say, you know, all right, we're
28:47going to learn all the entrepreneurship
28:48and Finland concepts, then we're going
28:50to take a test, which we do infuse some
28:52standards in there. However, the alpha
28:54test is, okay, so one, can you now go
28:57run a food truck all on your own? Or
28:58two, can you do a fully studentrun,
29:01student executed music festival, and
29:03these are just the things that light the
29:04kids up. But it's not just exciting and
29:06fun and engaging. It is truly genuinely
29:09challenging work. And there are rigorous
29:11tests at the end that tell us yes we
29:14declare mastery in this grade for this
29:16life skill.
29:17>> And one of the places I mean there's so
29:19many places where I just have endless
29:21gratitude towards our guides. But when I
29:24think about what those workshops look
29:26like and I remember actually the food
29:28truck workshop was an idea that that a
29:31small group of us had. We're like oh you
29:33know what we should do? Have the kids
29:34run a food truck because you know
29:36Austin's like the food truck capital so
29:37they should do a food truck. Now, I got
29:39to say that I did not have to sit down
29:41and think, okay, what does that mean?
29:43Three times a week during the 45 minutes
29:45during food truck workshop time. What
29:48are they going to be doing throughout
29:49the year? And so, there is so much that
29:51goes into the minuteby-minute kind of
29:55instruction and time that's building
29:57these kids up to be able to do things.
29:59The hey, we're going to have kids do a
30:01real TED talk. you know, it's like,
30:03okay, well, we've got kids who show up
30:05and they they won't even speak in a loud
30:08voice in front of their friend, much
30:10less on a stage with lots of people. And
30:13that's where the guides really have to
30:15get their sleeves rolled up and say
30:16like, okay, how are we going to make
30:18this huge vision that we have of what we
30:21call the alpha test, the final at the
30:23end of a workshop, you know, public
30:25third-party evaluated tests that kids go
30:28through to say, hey, did you learn grit?
30:30Did you learn relationship building?
30:32what is it that you do? So, talk a
30:33little bit about how these guides put
30:35this magic together.
30:36>> Yeah, the guides bring an insane amount
30:38of creativity for that cheese. So, what
30:40it starts with is what's the broccoli?
30:42What's the cheese or the mechanism
30:43you're going to wrap around the life
30:45skill that get kids really excited to
30:47run to this workshop every single day?
30:48And then it does get more into the all
30:50right, what's the alpha test? And it is
30:52the more traditional teacher brain of
30:54all right, if this is where they need to
30:55end up, how do we backwards map the
30:57skills? What are the checkpoints and
30:59measurements we need to take along the
31:00way to make sure the kids are actually
31:02progressing at the proper rate? And that
31:04is where the AI comes in. We have built
31:07AI tools where the guy just has to plug
31:09in broccoli, cheese, alpha test, boom,
31:13generates a lesson plan. We call it a
31:15guides guide and the AI is pretty darn
31:17great at it.
31:18>> Yeah. So, we are using artificial
31:20intelligence to help us design what
31:22these workshops look like, help us
31:24figure out what are some of the subs
31:26skills that we have to help build kids
31:28up in it as they're going forward. And
31:30then sometimes some of the creative like
31:32here's the the extra twist we're going
31:34to put on this. Here's what we're going
31:36to do. I know we did a swimming workshop
31:38in one of our campuses with our
31:40four-year-olds where they were swimming.
31:42But I heard something kind of crazy that
31:44not only were they swimming, but they
31:46actually had to walk across the bottom
31:49of the pool
31:50>> to simulate being in space.
31:53>> And the way we helped them do that was
31:55what? We put weights in their hands,
31:58[laughter]
32:00which is pretty awesome. Actually, the
32:02the guide where the cheese originated,
32:04she called me as soon as she thought of
32:06it. I was driving into campus and she's
32:08like, "Steph, I just thought of the best
32:10idea for our four-year-olds. They're
32:12going to go to the bottom of the pool.
32:13They're going to have weights in their
32:14hand and they're going to walk like
32:15they're in space." And we [laughter]
32:16were like, "That is so cool. Let's do
32:19it." Yeah. And that is actually, you
32:21know, one of the best parts about staff
32:23days when all the guides get together
32:25and we're we're brainstorming all these
32:27crazy cool ambitious stuff for the kids.
32:29It's kind of it to me in my head it's um
32:32it's like if you get all the the iPhone
32:34engineers in a room and they're
32:36thinking, man, this thing's already
32:37pretty darn good, right? [laughter] Like
32:38how are we going to make this iPhone
32:40better? The guides have to consistently
32:42keep raising the bar. A really great
32:44example is one year we had 5-year-olds
32:46who didn't know how to bike at all end
32:47up biking five miles at the end of eight
32:49weeks. Fast forward the next year, we're
32:51thinking, "Okay, well now these kids
32:53have leveled up into second and third
32:55grade. How are we going to beat five
32:57miles on a bike?" And our actually our
32:59lead guide stood up and she's like,
33:01"Well, I think that they could run a 5K
33:03in less than 35 minutes." And [laughter]
33:04we were all like, that was actually one
33:06of the first ones we're like,
33:08>> "Okay, that actually sounds, is it
33:10impossible?" No, nothing's impossible,
33:13right? Or even taking that same cheese.
33:15This is what's a cool thing about us
33:16growing and just having more creative
33:17minds together is the same cheese of the
33:20biking five miles, but you transplant it
33:22from Austin to San Francisco and they
33:24get to go do it on the Golden Gate
33:25Bridge.
33:25>> They had the Alpha Biker Gang earned
33:28their little black leather jackets that
33:30said Alpha Biker Gang, which they had to
33:32unlock from from hitting different goals
33:35throughout that. And I I'll never forget
33:37hearing about that day when those kids
33:40rode across the Golden Gate Bridge. It
33:42was super windy. Like they were
33:44literally riding into the wind and they
33:46were like, "We got this." They had their
33:48helmets with, I think, little blue
33:50mohawks on them. It was absolutely
33:52amazing. And I think, yeah, it is so
33:54cool to see the things that kids do. And
33:57I remember when, you know, those kids
33:59who had biked as a team 5 miles, all of
34:02a sudden they're going into second grade
34:04and now it's like, okay, now you're
34:06going to run a 5K, you know, and you're
34:08going to do it in less than 35 minutes.
34:10And when those kids all got together at
34:11the Jingle Bell Run in Austin, it was
34:14such a fun moment to see what they were
34:17able to do. And I think your point is
34:19really interesting about when we think
34:21about like what's something that's
34:22impossible. In fact, one of the things
34:23we often say is have kids be able to say
34:25to their parents like, "Mom, dad, let me
34:27wow you." Like, "Let me do something
34:29that you think is impossible." And I
34:30will say, I have a super high bar for
34:33what I think is a good workshop. And
34:35there's lots of times when I hear
34:37workshops where I'm like, "Is that
34:38really impossible? Is it impossible for
34:40a a kindergartener to climb a 40ft rock
34:42wall? I don't know. It seems like it's
34:44possible." And other parents are like,
34:45"No, it's not." But I will tell you the
34:46one that happened this year that I
34:48remember when I heard I was like,
34:50"Really?" which was our prek class. Our
34:53four-year-olds were going to swim the
34:55length of Barton Springs pool, which if
34:58any of you been to Austin, Texas, Barton
35:00Springs is a natural pool that I think
35:02is like the length of like two Olympic
35:03swimming pools. It's also like 64° or
35:07something. It's chilly and cold. And the
35:10fact that these kids were not only going
35:12to learn to swim, but learn to swim that
35:15long in that cold water. I was like,
35:17"Okay, that [laughter] that does seem
35:20pretty impossible." And they did it.
35:22They did.
35:23>> They absolutely did it.
35:23>> So Seth, I get a lot of interest from
35:25people who say, "How can I come and work
35:27for Alpha? I want to be a guided alpha."
35:29And I always love that. I'm like,
35:30"Please come. We're always, by the way,
35:32looking for great talent. So if you're
35:34listening to this and you want to be a
35:35guided alpha, we want you to be there."
35:37But then I also get the what is up with
35:40the CCAT test that we have to take that
35:43if we don't score a certain amount we
35:45are out of the pipeline and they don't
35:47like that. A lot of people say you know
35:50that's not actually understanding. I'm
35:51great at teaching. I'm great at being
35:53around kids and I've gotten knocked out
35:55of the running because of the CCAT. So
35:58let's talk about what that is and why
35:59you think it's important.
36:00>> Yeah. So CCAT it's cognitive assessment.
36:03It's 50 questions, 15 minutes time, and
36:06you just get a point for every question.
36:07Correct.
36:07>> It's a hard test.
36:08>> It's a hard test for sure. And just like
36:10we put hard goals in front of kids, we
36:12put hard goals in front of guides. And
36:13just like we don't lower the bar for
36:15kids, we don't lower the bar for guides
36:17or guide applicants. So the threshold is
36:1835. You got to hit it or above and you
36:20get to keep going. We've had a good
36:22amount of applicants who have not hit
36:24that bar. I actually like to take this
36:26as like my first coaching moment for
36:27them even though they're not yet in the
36:28org. What I'll do is first I'll give
36:30them another chance. Mhm.
36:31>> Um, and that I think that's a great
36:32demonstration of high standards, high
36:34support where it's I'm not going to
36:35lower the bar, but you got this. Here's
36:38a list of five strategies. Don't over
36:40prep. You got this. Go try again. Right.
36:44And sometimes I will give up to three
36:46tries. Just to prove the point that I
36:48will not lower the bar, but I do believe
36:49you can hit it. So, go get after it
36:51again.
36:51>> Yeah.
36:52>> 35 on the CCAT represents about top 10%
36:56of cognitive capability according to the
36:58CCAT. and and we just have we have found
37:00a high correlation between having that
37:02score and really excelling not just in
37:04the guy role but in our organization.
37:06We're fast-paced. We're doing stuff that
37:08no one in the world has done before. We
37:10collaborate a ton, give and receive
37:12feedback. These are intellectual
37:14capabilities that there needs to be a
37:16certain baseline aggregate across all of
37:19our guys to be able to keep moving and
37:21not be slowed down.
37:22>> Yeah, we are so fast. We iterate so
37:24much. We're always looking at how to
37:26raise the bar, raise the bar, raise the
37:27bar. And unfortunately, I do think what
37:30you said is true that traditional
37:32education tends to attract the bottom
37:34quartortile of students who are coming
37:37into the education department. In fact,
37:38at the University of Texas, you know,
37:40right here, I was talking to a bunch of
37:42parents at one of the local high schools
37:44who said, you know, a lot of their kids
37:46had gotten into UT via the education
37:48department because that's the easiest
37:50way to get in. And so, we do think it's
37:53really important. We got to be fast.
37:54Now, we believe kids are limitless. We
37:56don't use IQ at all when it comes to
37:59measuring kids. But when you're working
38:01as a guide, we are like absolutely, you
38:03need to be fast to be able to keep up
38:04with these kids and each other.
38:06>> 100%.
38:07>> Great. If there was one message that you
38:09could get out to somebody who was
38:11thinking about maybe becoming a guide at
38:13Alpha, wanted to look into this because
38:15we again we need lots of guides. We are
38:17hiring like crazy. What is the message
38:19you would want to convey? If you are
38:21looking for an organization where we
38:24100% put the kids first and you want to
38:27wake up every single day thinking, how
38:29am I going to deliver the three
38:31commitments to every single kid who I
38:33interact with today? Come apply. If
38:36you're looking for an organization that
38:37also cares if you love your job, which
38:39we do ask our guides twice a year, do
38:41you love your job? Do you feel like
38:42you're growing personally and
38:43professionally?
38:44Come apply. the team of guides that you
38:46will be surrounded by when you make it
38:49into our org. You will feel like you
38:50found your people. They are the best
38:53>> group of people to work with and work
38:55around.
38:56>> And who shouldn't apply?
38:59>> Do not apply if you will get shook when
39:03you see a kid cry. [laughter]
39:05That's what I say.
39:06>> We often say kids struggle, fail,
39:09sometimes cry on their road to success,
39:13all being cared for and supported by a
39:16wonderful adult. That is sort of what we
39:18are. We believe failure is fuel. We
39:20believe kids can do hard things. We also
39:22believe kids can love school even more
39:25than going on vacation. And if you can
39:27help all of those things live in your
39:28mind at the same time, then ALF is a
39:30great place to be. though. If you are a
39:33teacher or if you are somebody who comes
39:35from a completely different background
39:36and you love the idea of impacting
39:39students on making a difference on
39:40helping them love school, learn twice as
39:42much in two hours and develop life
39:44skills, then Alpha is the right place
39:46and Dr. Steph will be someone that you
39:48will connect with. Thank you for
39:49everything you do. Thanks for making
39:51this entire school world go around. Uh
39:54it is the guides that make the school.
39:57They are the secret sauce. It's not
39:59about the technology. It's not about the
40:01AI. It is about the fact that we have
40:03transformed the role of the adult in the
40:05classroom to be able to focus on
40:06delivering to kids and you are a huge
40:08part of that. Thanks, Seth. Thanks.
40:12>> Thanks for listening to Mackenzie Price
40:14and the Future of Education podcast. If
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40:23on social media and be part of our daily
40:24conversation over on Instagram at
40:26futureof_education.
40:29Lastly, if you're loving what you're
40:30learning, please leave a review wherever
40:32you listen to podcasts. We'll be back in
40:34your feed soon, but until then,
40:36remember, kids are limitless, [music]
40:38and it's our job to unlock their
40:39potential.

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