Super Teacher is building an AI tutor for elementary schools — catch it at Disrupt 2025

One of the tutoring The most effective tool To improve a child’s education, however, very few children in the United States receive it. That’s what a 2023 survey of the nation’s largest school districts found Less than 10% Students receive tutoring. One reason is that tutoring is extremely expensive for many families, often costing hundreds or thousands of dollars a month.

Tim Novikoff, a former Google product manager and academic, wants to change that His startup, Super teacheroffers an AI-powered tutoring app for elementary school students for $15 a month, or $10 with an annual plan. SuperTeacher aims to make private tutoring accessible to families nationwide.

The four-year-old startup is gaining traction. Novikoff said about 20,000 families have signed up for SuperTeacher, and public schools in New York, New Jersey and Hawaii now use the app. Super teacher is a Startup battlefield At the top 20 finalists TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 In San Francisco.

Novikoff was previously a math teacher in New York City, first in Harlem and then at Stuyvesant High School, a highly rated public school. In an interview with TechCrunch, he said that almost all students at Stuyvesant received tutoring, while many students at Harlem did not, and that the difference in their educational experiences was stark.

“[Tutoring] This is by far the most effective intervention that can be provided for children’s education, and it’s not even close,” Novikoff said. “It’s really unfair that not everyone gets this opportunity. That’s why I’m on a mission to democratize access to private tutoring.”

The Super Teacher app features animated tutors with AI-generated voices that guide students through interactive lessons. Students talk to the app using voice, similar to a conversation with a teacher. But unlike many edtech tools, SuperTeacher doesn’t use large language models to generate feedback. Instead, its content comes from a deterministic system designed to always give the right answer — avoiding the fallacies that can plague the LLM.

Novikoff thinks AI tutors can have a valuable impact on children’s lives, but he insists AI will never replace teachers in school settings. He refers to AI tutors as tools that teachers can use, like smart boards or calculators, rather than completely replacing them.

SuperTeacher is only available to elementary school students, a decision Novikoff made to help his own children and because few edtech companies target that age group. Looking ahead, he hopes to expand into younger and older grades and partner with more school districts across the United States.

Novikoff previously established Fly Labs, a mobile video-editing app acquired by Google in 2015.

If you want to learn more about SuperTeacher from the company — as well as check out dozens of others, listen to their pitches and listen to guest speakers on four different stages — join us at Disrupt October 27 to 29 in San Francisco. Learn more here.