The $400 Fix to America’s Education Crisis

How to fill the holes of “Swiss cheese learning.”

Here’s the dirty secret of American education: the average high schooler doesn’t actually learn anything new — because most learning stops in middle school.

On MAP tests across the country, which are scored on a 300-point scale, the median high schooler only goes up 1-2 points in four years. (For context, a kindergartner will jump 7 points in one semester.) At that rate, you could leave your kid in high school until they’re 25 and they still wouldn’t learn much.

The plateau starts in middle school. If you look at the learning curves in America, that’s exactly when they flatten out.

student reading growth norms from the NWEA (page 123)

To explain the chart above:

• In early grades, growth is big. A kindergartner typically jumps +6.8 points between Winter and Spring. First graders add about +5.5 points. This is when learning is steep.

• By elementary school, growth slows. By 3rd grade, the average learning gain drops to +3.2 points, and by 5th grade, it’s down to +1.9 points.

• In middle school, growth plateaus. A 7th grader grows just over +1 point from Winter to Spring. That’s only about one-fifth the growth of a kindergartner.

• In high school, growth nearly stalls. By 10th grade, the average gain is just +0.6 points. By 11th grade, growth is almost flat (+0.08), and in 12th grade, it ticks up only slightly (+0.47).

This seems…problematic.

Part of the issue is lack of student engagement and lack of proper motivational models. But the root problem is structural: we follow a time-based education system instead of a mastery-based one.

Let’s look at the ramifications of this. (And the shockingly simple solution that costs less than the iPhone in your hand.)

The “Swiss Cheese Problem” in Education

Ever heard of “Swiss cheese learning?” This term was first coined by Salmon Khan to explain what happens to students in the traditional school system.

Traditional schools progress students based on age, not understanding. Kids only have to grasp 70% of the material to level up. Despite having not mastered the basics, they just. keep. progressing. Inevitably, their knowledge base becomes peppered with holes. They build their education on the likeness of (you guessed it) Swiss cheese.

The older students get, and the more information they’re fed, the wider the holes become. Soon, they turn into craters. Eventually, the entire foundation caves in. Ever wonder why so many kids hit a wall during algebra? It’s not because they’re not smart enough — it’s Swiss cheese. They’re missing prior knowledge. They have gaping craters in their education. And unfortunately, there is no style of architecture that enables you to build a castle without a foundation. (Not yet, anyway.)

The thing is, kids falling behind academically isn’t even the worst part.

The worst part is that kids begin to believe they’re dumb. That they’re “just bad at math.” That they’re “just not that smart.” They internalize these negative self-beliefs and drag them around like beat-up carry-on luggage for the rest of their lives. It’s heartbreaking. Because, in reality, all they needed to do was rewind a few semesters and master their times tables.

This is why Alpha School places so much emphasis on hole-filling.

“Hole-filling” is the first thing we do when a new student enrolls at Alpha. But hang on: can you imagine telling your seventh grader she needs to go back and redo fifth grade? She’d rather eat a shoe. You would rather eat two shoes. After all, haven’t we been trained to believe our child must perform at grade level? If your kid is 12, they have to learn seventh grade curriculum, right?

Not exactly.

Learning science shows that one-on-one tutoring is the gold standard of education. Why? Tutors hole-fill. They sit down with their student to determine what the student actually knows. They identify the Swiss cheese holes of a student’s knowledge base — then, fill the holes with the right knowledge. Only then can the student truly progress.

There’s only one problem with this scenario: it’s 2025. Your kid isn’t being tutored by Plato in some candlelit, leather-armchaired library. How do we drag this into the 21st century?

In other words, how do we hole-fill students’ education at scale, minus the shame and stigma?

Alpha School’s “100-for-100:” $100 for 100%

Here’s how we do it at Alpha.

In walks a class of freshly enrolled seventh graders. We tell them:

“Every single one of you can get a perfect score on the Texas STAAR test.”

“No way,” they say. “That’s impossible.”

So, we pull out the big guns:

“If you take the test and score 100%, we’ll give you $100 cash. And here’s the best part: you can take the test at any grade level you want.”

Gasps. Eyes widen. Eyebrows hit the ceiling.

“Wait, I can take the third-grade Texas STAAR and if I score a 100%, you’ll give me $100?”

Exactly. $100 for 100%.

Naturally, they dive in. And when they get a perfect score, we hand them a $100 bill. Nice job! Immediately, they ask: “Can I take the fourth-grade test?” Absolutely! Once they ace that test, they add another Benjamin in the bank.

But inevitably, we hit Swiss cheese.

Maybe fifth grade math trips them up. Maybe they only score 75%. That’s when we ask the magic question: “Do you want the AI tutor to generate the lessons that will help you get to 100%?”

Duh, they say. Of course. And just like that, they’re totally in.

It’s a complete mindset shift. It’s not like we’re uprooting a seventh grader and plopping them down into a fifth grade classroom so their friends can dump hot buckets of shame on them. Instead, picture two seventh graders studying at the same table. One is three years ahead in reading and two years behind in math. The other student is two years ahead in both. It doesn’t matter. No one cares. Every student at Alpha School follows their own personalized learning plan and that’s the norm. There is zero stigma about it.

And here’s where things get interesting.

Once the student agrees to hole-fill, they realize how fast and efficient it is. That knowledge they’re missing from fifth grade? They can master it in a week. Then, they can score a 100% on the Texas STAAR. Then, they can move onto the next grade level. All along, they’re realizing: “Holy crap. I’m actually good at this.”

For just $400 per kid, we accomplish two critical (even life-changing) things:

• First, we fill the holes in students’ knowledge. Like intellectual construction workers, we help students clink around in their brains and rebuild a strong educational foundation. That way, students can build build build without the entire frame collapsing.

• Second, we change how students see themselves. When a kid realizes “I can learn anything,” “I can learn fast,” and “I can score a 100% on any test I take,” something remarkable happens. Mental chains are broken. Limiting beliefs are smashed. One perfect score can unravel years of self-doubt and fuel decades of self-confidence to come.

This shift is massive. Seriously! We grew up believing only the “gifted and talented” kids could ace every test, and in a time-based education system, that’s true. But with mastery learning, every kid can. In a mastery-based model, learning is less about IQ and more about effort. Once kids believe this — once they put in the reps and understand, “If I really want to, I can,” — everything changes.

I wish I knew that when I was a kid. (Don’t you?)

Check this out: over 90% of kids who have attended Alpha for one year declare with confidence, “I can get 100% on any Texas STAAR.”

The crazy thing is, they do.

K-6 students at Alpha produce more perfect Texas STAAR scores than an entire school district of 100,000 kids.

Why? Because our students only advance when they genuinely know the material. No Swiss cheese learning allowed. Which means, it’s downright easy for students to excel academically.

When we see this in sports, it’s a no-brainer: master the fundamentals first. Lebron couldn’t dunk if he never learned to dribble. Serena couldn’t serve if she never learned the right grip on her racket. But for whatever reason, this gets lost in translation with academics. Parents expect their kids to dunk before dribbling, to serve before gripping, to excel academically without having the proper foundation to support them.

So, here’s my take: you can use money not just to motivate your kid, but to transform the narrative they tell themselves about themselves.

America spends $20,000 per student throughout their education. But for $400 per kid ($100 for four perfect test scores), you can hole-fill a child’s education and transform how they perceive their own capabilities.

You can ensure your kid enters adulthood, saying, “I can accomplish anything.”

You can literally unleash their potential.

What do you think? Would you let your kid try Alpha’s 100-for-100?