# Drew University will open a K-8 school powered by 2HR Learning > Source: > Published: 2026-08-10 20:41:48+00:00 Drew University President Hilary L. Link and [2HR Learning](https://2hr.school/about-us/) co-founder [MacKenzie Price (@mackenzieprice)](https://x.com/mackenzieprice) plan to open an AI-driven elementary and middle school on Drew's Madison, New Jersey, campus this fall, giving Price's education model its first university affiliate and Drew a new way to extend its institution below the undergraduate level. [The Drew School](https://drew.school/) will serve students in grades 1 through 8 using TimeBack, an adaptive tutoring system that changes the pace, content and presentation of lessons for each student. The school plans to compress reading, writing and math into two focused hours each day, leaving the rest of the schedule for projects, fitness, public speaking, financial literacy and other practical skills, [according to Drew University's August 10th announcement](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/drew-university-announces-launch-of-the-drew-school-302847449.html). Price, a Stanford graduate, has said she began building the model after her daughters told her they hated school. She and Brian Holtz launched Alpha School's predecessor in Austin in 2014 around the thesis that software could personalize core instruction while human coaches focused on motivation, judgment and projects. Holtz, Alpha School's co-founder and the designer of the 2 Hour Learning curriculum, will lead The Drew School. Link is making a different institutional bet. A Renaissance scholar with degrees from Stanford and Yale, she became Drew's president in July 2023 after leading Allegheny College and holding senior roles at Temple University Rome, Barnard College and New York University. Her plan for Drew treats education as a relationship spanning age 6 through adulthood, rather than a product delivered during four undergraduate years. ### A small school tests a larger distribution strategy The first Drew School cohort will be deliberately narrow. Its [admissions page](https://drew.school/admissions) advertises 10 to 12 founding-family places at $30,000 in annual tuition. Applications are open for grades 1 through 7, although Drew describes the planned school as serving grades 1 through 8. That size makes the fall opening closer to a controlled implementation than a full campus rollout. It gives Drew and 2HR Learning room to test how TimeBack operates with a new group of coaches, families and university faculty before adding students. The announcement does not specify a capacity beyond the founding cohort or disclose how Drew and 2HR Learning will divide tuition and operating responsibilities. The model replaces age-based progression with mastery-based "Learning Levels." During the academic block, software selects lessons and adjusts their difficulty while coaches monitor attention, answer questions and intervene when students stall. The [published curriculum](https://drew.school/curriculum) says Drew faculty will also teach electives, while older students will be able to train with university athletes and performance staff. For 2HR Learning, the university setting is the important part of the deal. Price has already used the model across Alpha School, Alpha High, GT School, NextGen Academy and Sports Academy. The Drew partnership packages the same operating system inside an institution that already has classrooms, laboratories, athletic facilities, faculty and a local reputation. That is a cleaner expansion path than building every school from scratch. [2HR Learning's private-school product](https://privateschools.2hourlearning.com/) is marketed as an academic block that existing operators can install inside their own schedules. Drew is the first higher-education affiliate named by the partners, making the campus a reference account for selling the approach to other universities and independent schools. The structure also differs from Alpha's recent push into expensive urban campuses. [RuntimeWire reported in June](/article/alpha-school-new-york-ai-campus-not-school) that Alpha had pitched Manhattan families on a $65,000 program whose regulatory status raised questions about where an AI learning center ends and a school begins. The Drew School will operate through a named university partnership, giving 2HR Learning institutional cover, physical infrastructure and an established education brand. ### Drew is turning campus assets into K-8 infrastructure Link has framed The Drew School as one component of a "60-plus-year" learning relationship. The immediate operating logic is more concrete: Drew can use the same campus, faculty expertise and facilities to serve another tuition-paying population without creating a conventional university degree program. Drew was founded as a seminary in 1867 and later added an undergraduate college and graduate school. Under Link, the university has identified financial health as a top institutional priority while adding programs and partnerships tied to changing student demand. The Drew School fits that playbook. It adds a new age group and revenue opportunity while positioning the campus as an active part of the product. The arrangement gives both sides assets the other lacks. Drew contributes trust, land, specialist faculty and access to families in northern New Jersey. 2HR Learning contributes TimeBack, curriculum design and an operating model developed through Alpha. Each partner can test a new market without independently assembling the entire stack. That division also creates the central execution risk. TimeBack can schedule lessons and track mastery, but the school still depends on coaches who can keep young students focused, spot problems the software misses and turn the remaining hours into worthwhile instruction. Drew's faculty and facilities strengthen the afternoon offering only if the university can integrate them into a daily K-8 program rather than treating access as occasional enrichment. ### 2HR Learning's outcome claims have to travel 2HR Learning says students at schools using its model complete twice the academic material in two hours and rank near the top of national standardized-test distributions. Those figures come from 2HR Learning's descriptions of its own NWEA MAP Growth results. The Drew School has not yet produced an independent student cohort against which the claims can be tested. The Madison launch therefore measures whether the model travels beyond schools directly associated with Alpha. A small founding class may produce intensive attention that becomes harder to maintain as enrollment grows. Families paying $30,000 will also judge the product on more than test scores: whether students remain engaged, whether projects have depth, and whether the university connection changes the daily experience. Price is using Drew to move 2HR Learning from a network of branded schools toward an institutional distribution business. Link is using the same partnership to push a liberal arts university into elementary and middle-school education. The first cohort is small, but the operating template is designed to be copied: software-led academics, human coaching and an existing campus supplying the rest of the school day.