Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Alef Education, a global educational technology, announced this week that it has partnered with the American Samoa Department of Education (AS-DOE) to implement Alef Pathways — described as an innovative educational solution — for 10,000 students across all public schools on the island.

A press release issued by Alef’s public relations firm, Orient Plant group, quotes Alef CEO Geoffrey Alphonso saying, “We are pleased to partner with the American Samoa Department of Education to implement Alef Pathways in all schools across American Samoa, providing students with the tools and support they need to excel academically.

“This development underscores Alef Education's position as a leader in providing personalized and effective learning solutions to students worldwide. We will continue to work to empower educators and inspire learners by transforming education with solutions such as Alef Pathways.”

According to the company’s literature available online, Alef Pathways is a student-centered, self-paced supplemental math program that provides a comprehensive solution for improving math instruction.

It includes diagnostics and recommends developmental pathways, interactive learning content, and formative and summative assessments to measure progress. It empowers teachers to monitor student progress and recommends appropriate materials to support individual learning needs.

Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction at AS-DOE, Netini Sene said, “We are excited about the implementation of Alef Pathways in American Samoa.

“With recent spikes in chronic absenteeism and emotional stress, Alef Pathways will help to re-engage students in reaching our goals for improvement.

“We believe that the personalized learning pathways for students, easy-to-use data for specialized instruction, customized professional development for teachers, and consistent deep practice will allow us to weather the storms of change.”

The press release says Alef Pathways will be used in AS-DOE’s 2023- 24 academic year, and the rollout will begin shortly into the new term with the launch of the platform this coming Monday, Sept. 18, starting with high schools. A phased approach will allow the local public school system to ensure smooth implementation before extending Alef Pathways to lower grade levels.

BACKGROUND

The Alef Platform provides AI (artificial intelligence) -powered learning and teaching solutions.

The idea for Alef first came about in 2016 where it was conceptualized as a technology-enabled primary mode of education system to address the needs of the local public school system in the United Arab Emirates.

The Platform provides personalized learning experiences for all students so they learn at their own pace, anytime and anywhere. Artificial intelligence allows students to receive individualized instruction and give them the choice in how they prefer to learn.

The company’s website explains that students are given innovative ways to comprehend difficult lessons by breaking down content and using effective learning techniques such as engaging videos, activities and games.

The platform provides immediate feedback to teachers about students’ progress. Teachers can use the data to address specific areas and help students with individual needs.

The monitoring and feedback systems track data progress on a district, school, grade, subject, class, and student level.

Curriculum aligned lesson plans and culturally appropriate media built into all the digital lessons help save teacher time in lesson planning and preparation.

The company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is headed by CEO Geoffrey Alphonso, who is widely considered a leader in the digital education — or Ed-Tech — field.

Prior to joining Alef Education, Geoffrey was the General Manager at Pearson Education, running its Program Management and Service Delivery business for over eight years. Prior to his time at Pearson, Geoffrey held various senior leadership roles in Toronto, Canada, and Australia across the Ed- Tech, Telecom, and the Financial sectors. He holds an MBA from the London Business School with a specialization in international business and finance.

The Alef platform is currently being used in schools in the UAE, USA, Morocco, and Indonesia.

One concern that has been voiced is that embracing the technology could come at a cost, such as increasing the amount of time children spend in front of screens.

Alphonso said his program addresses this issue by limiting screen time to 3½ hours a day. The classes are followed by practical sessions in which children interact with one another and participate in hands-on exercises.

The program is currently being used in over 11,000 school systems across the globe.