I wouldn't call that "innovation"

 You might remember that Springfield's Empowerment Zone schools came back under Springfield School Committee control last spring, now as innovation schools, which you may or may not remember were a part of the 2011 Act Relative to the Achievement Gap. They allow for schools, under a school committee approved plan, to have individual modifications of some things, which can include schedule, staffing, curriculum. 

Well, one of the schools in Springfield has a particular "innovation" in mind, WBUR reported this week: 

Springfield's Kiley Prep plans to use a model developed by Alpha School, a controversial national network that uses AI to teach academics like math and reading.

Oddly--and I'd be really interested in what's going on with this--this piece continues to talk about the school being in the Empowerment Zone, the Zone having authorities, and quotes the Empowerment Zone co-director as the authority, which seems rather in conflict with the spring decision to bring these schools back into the district. 

Back to the Alpha schools part:

 Springfield Empowerment Zone leaders had discussed bringing the Alpha model into several classrooms during the 2026-2027 school year, according to emails obtained through a public records request filed by the president of the Springfield Education Association and shared with WBUR.

The pilot would begin with about 25 students. Kiley Prep has roughly 300 sixth through eighth graders, and students score well below state averages on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, the standardized test known as the MCAS.

Matt Brunell, SEZP's co-executive director, said he hopes Alpha's model will boost academic performance.

“We're in need of doing something pretty dramatic in the wake of post-COVID learning losses,” he said. “We can at least see if this strategy could yield some success.”

Brunell posted a message on the SEZP website Thursday outlining the plan. He said parents will be notified Friday. School starts Monday, and the pilot is expected to begin in September.

Innovation schools have a very specific process through which their plans, having been supported by two-thirds of the educators in the building, goes to the school committee. If those plans, which would be required for the schools to become innovation schools, actually went forward, I have not seen any reporting on it, and, as this change is now being challenged by the Springfield teachers' union, it would appear there's some question on that aspect of the innovation.