Location: Downtown Austin
201 Colorado Street
Austin, TX 78701
Students served: Grades 9–12
Current enrollment: 19; rolling admissions
Model/philosophy: Alpha High is an accredited, mastery-based, self-paced high school that leverages AI-powered learning to accelerate academic progress. Students complete rigorous coursework in 2–3 hours per day, followed by guide-led workshops in the afternoons, where they develop critical life skills and work on Masterpiece Projects—Olympic-level challenges designed to push their creativity, leadership, and innovation. The school emphasizes leadership, entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and college preparedness, ensuring students are fully equipped for success beyond high school. Alpha High fosters self-driven learners, preparing them for top-tier universities and future careers through a balance of academic rigor and real-world experiences.
Special features: Alpha High's campus reimagines what's possible in high school with spaces designed for real-world impact. A professional-grade podcast studio enables students to broadcast globally, while entrepreneurship labs and innovation spaces support ventures that generate significant revenue. Students take, on average, two international trips yearly, while maintaining rigorous academics that consistently yield top national SAT scores and AP results. With mentors from Harvard and industry leaders, Alpha High students don't just prepare for the future—they create it.
Schedule: 8:15am–4pm, Monday–Friday; August 14, 2024–June 6, 2025
Tuition: $40,000 annually, with financial assistance available and scholarship opportunities. All supplies, travel fees, and workshops are included.
Contact: Alpha Admissions Team | 512-358-1672 | admissions@alpha.school
Each listing in this alphabetical directory gives you a snapshot of a small, independent, alternative school in the Austin area.
This frequently updated list spans several pages, with navigation buttons at the bottom. Clicking on the name of a school will take you to its own website. To easily find schools by geographical area, see our Alt Ed Maps page. If you know of a school that’s missing from this directory, please drop a note here, and see Alt Ed Austin’s criteria for “alternative” and “school.” You may also be interested in our directories of other recommended schools (which are mostly larger or more specialized or religiously oriented), as well as special programs for children and adults.
Full disclosure: Alt Ed Austin founder Teri Sperry has ties with several of the schools listed on this site. Her child, now an adult, attended two of them years ago. She has friends who direct, teach at, or are otherwise involved in others. Some programs choose to advertise from time to time on Alt Ed Austin as Sponsoring Partners. She firmly believes that all of the schools featured on this site (including the ones to which she has no personal connection and those from which she receives no advertising fees) are good choices for some kids, each for different reasons.
