Evidence · Education
Every child with a tutor
Since the 1980s, education research has known that a student with an individual tutor learns far more than a student in a regular classroom. The problem was never pedagogical, it was economic: there are not enough tutors for everyone. That is exactly what AI is changing.
More than double, in less time
At Harvard, physics students were randomly split. Half took the in-person active learning class, the method considered the gold standard of university teaching. The other half studied the same content with an AI tutor designed around good pedagogy.
The tutored group learned more than double, in less study time, and reported more engagement and more motivation. Not because AI is better than the teacher: because it gives each student what a full classroom cannot, their own pace and the question answered at the moment of doubt.
Figure 1
Learning gain, normalized to the in-person active learning class
In-person active learning
AI tutor
Gain measured by pre- and post-test; the authors report more than double the gain, with less study time.
Source: Kestin et al., Scientific Reports, 2025. Randomized trial at Harvard University.
Two years of school in six weeks
In Nigeria, the World Bank evaluated an after-school program: secondary students studying English with a generative AI tutor, with teachers guiding the sessions. In six weeks, the average learning gain was equivalent to 1.5 to 2 years of typical schooling.
The detail that matters most is in the distribution: the girls who started behind advanced the most. An individual tutor was always the privilege of those who could pay. When it costs almost nothing, the first to gain are those who never had one.
Figure 2
6
weeks of after-school program
1.5 to 2
years of typical learning, equivalent
0.31
standard deviations of improvement in scores
Source: World Bank, 2025. Pilot program in Edo, Nigeria.
Why this is our thesis
These studies did not use HiNow models. They show what the category makes possible, and it is the thesis on which we built HiSchool and the Foundation that takes it to schools around the world: teaching that adapts to how each student thinks, guiding through questions instead of handing over the answer key.
Evolution that does not reach the classroom is not evolution, it is competitive advantage. The numbers on this page are the proof that it can be done differently.
