Our approach to technology

Amplify is an education company before it is a technology company. We start with how humans learn best and help teachers create the conditions for that kind of learning to happen for all students.

Our K–8 core programs combine print, hands-on, and optional digital learning that increases as the grade levels go up, often in pairs or small groups and always with print back-ups.

Below are Amplify’s principles for including technology in a lesson or a program.

1. Human interaction, not isolation

Our north star is a classroom humming with learning: an environment created by a teacher where students can do something more difficult than any one of them could have done alone. Used well, technology supports lessons where students discuss ideas, solve problems together, and collaborate. Instead of introducing distraction, the technology focuses students on challenging subject matter and on each other’s ideas, engaging them in conversation and productive struggle that deepens understanding.

2. Learning, not bells and whistles

Motivation comes from making a lesson come alive. We are skeptical of any tool that claims to “make learning fun,” then draws motivation from something other than deep engagement with rigorous content. The things students need to know are the source of delight, not the obstacle to it. Technology should not distract students from difficult learning, but enable immersive experiences that bring concepts to life in ways print cannot.

3. Teachers before tech

Teachers remain the most important influence on student learning, and humans learn best with and from other humans face-to-face. We use technology for experiences that print or hands-on cannot deliver: running a scientific simulation, making a student’s mathematical thinking visible in real time, or turning the work of 30 students into data that helps teachers guide instruction. When print, hands-on learning, or class discussion do the job better, we use those. Most often, the tech in our programs prepares kids for the next moment of teacher-led discussion; “laptops down, eyes up” is a common refrain in an Amplify classroom. Indeed, our software provides teachers with a button that locks student screens and re-directs their attention to the teacher.

4. Age-appropriate screen use, growing gradually as children grow

Foundational skills are built through face-to-face instruction, physical materials, books, handwriting, and social interactions. The use of digital tools should increase gradually as children develop—never because a platform demands it, and never faster than a child’s developmental stage warrants. In the earliest grades, that means digital time is close to zero, by design. The amount of time teachers might choose to use digital resources goes up as the grades go up. But always with a developmentally appropriate focus on active engagement, not passive consumption. Amplify’s K–8 core programs can be taught entirely in print. Digital resources are optional and recommended only for certain parts of lessons. Amplify’s supplemental programs never recommend more than an hour a week of students online.

5. Optional AI to enable teachers to focus on what they do best: guiding student learning

AI should serve as a helpful assistant to teachers juggling the needs of a classroom full of students. It should lighten their load and make it easier to lead inspiring, impactful lessons. AI can help ease administrative tasks, provide real-time support during instruction, and generate on-the-spot coaching and resources when planning a lesson or unit. We are also clear about what AI cannot do: it cannot pay genuine attention to students. It cannot care. It cannot convey passion for things like literature, history, math, and science. Those things belong to humans, and we like it that way. So we do not race to ship AI features because competitors are doing it. We would rather be the company that gets it right: building tools that are pedagogically sound, safe, tested for bias and efficacy, and genuinely useful to teachers.