Alpha: The Beginning

Posted by John Glover on Mar 27, 2012 in Alpha Public Schools, Blog

A few years ago, I had my first conversation about blended learning with Gisele Huff at the Hume Foundation.  Prior to that, like most people at the time, I had not visited Rocketship, seen Khan Academy, or developed a vision for personalized learning.  I only knew that the brute force, no-excuses model of education that I grew up in as an educator was not the most effective way to serve diverse groups of students well, and it was not a system that encouraged excellent teachers to focus on teaching the higher order thinking skills that students need to succeed in college, career, and life.  I became convinced there was a better way to teach and to learn.

In four months, Alpha Public Schools will open its first blended model school in the Alum Rock neighborhood of San Jose, California.  By no means have I become an expert in the last two years.  In fact, I hope to use this space (in part) to talk about the challenges we face and explore our failures as we build Alpha from the ground up. I expect Alpha will succeed, that student achievement will be exceptional, and that we will redefine the role of teachers.  But I don’t expect any of it to be easy.  By chronicling our most important learnings, I hope that others who are dipping their toes into this space, and who are intimidated by so many unknowns, will have the courage to take the leap.

As we execute our plan, we will continue to think through difficult questions that are critical to Alpha’s success. For example:

How will the role of the teacher change in next-generation schools and what new skills must these teachers possess? 

How can schools innovate responsibly: iterating rapidly to drive their models forward without risking student outcomes in the process? 

In answering these and other questions, my hope is that we will become better educators and better innovators.

Written by John Glover

John is the Founder and CEO of Alpha Public Schools, a new network of public charter secondary schools that aims to put students on the path to college success – and keep them there. This year, Blanca Alvarado Middle School, Alpha’s first school, opened with 175 students in 6th and 7th grade in San Jose California. Alpha is an NGLC Wave III grantee.