Tutoring is one of the simplest tools to enhance a child’s education, regardless that very few children in the U.S. receive it. This was revealed by a 2023 survey of the nation’s largest school districts lower than 10% students benefited from tutoring. One factor is that tutoring is too expensive for many families, often costing a whole lot or 1000’s of dollars per 30 days.
Tim Novikoff, a former Google product manager and educator, wants to vary that. His startup, Super Teacher, offers an AI-powered tutoring app for elementary school students that costs $15 a month or $10 for an annual plan. Super Teacher goals to make private tutoring available to families across the country.
The 4-12 months-old startup is gaining popularity. Novikoff says about 20,000 families have signed up for the Super Teacher program, and public schools in New York, New Jersey and Hawaii currently use the app. Super Teacher was among the 20 finalists of the Top 20 Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco.
Novikoff was previously a math teacher in New York City, first in Harlem and then at the highly rated Stuyvesant High School. In an interview with TechCrunch, he said that just about all students at Stuyvesant received tutoring, while many students in Harlem didn’t, and the difference in their educational experience was stark.
“[Tutoring] it is by far the most effective intervention that can be provided to children as part of their education, and it’s not even close,” Novikoff said. “It’s truly unfair that not everyone has this opportunity. That’s why I’m on a mission to democratize access to private tutoring.”
The Super Teacher app features animated teachers with AI-generated voices who guide students through interactive lessons. Students communicate with the application using voice, similar to when talking to a teacher. However, unlike many educational tools, Super Teacher does not use large language models to generate answers. Instead, its content comes from a deterministic system designed to at all times provide the correct answers – avoiding the inaccuracies that may plague the LLM.
Novikoff believes that teachers using artificial intelligence can have a beneficial impact on kid’s lives, but is adamant that artificial intelligence won’t ever replace teachers in schools. He talks about AI teachers as tools that teachers can use, similar to smart boards or calculators, relatively than a complete alternative.
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Super Teacher is only available to primary school students. Novikoff made the decision to assist his children and also because few edtech firms goal this age group with promoting. Looking ahead, he hopes to expand to junior and senior grades and partner with more school districts across the U.S.
Novikoff was founded earlier Fly Labs, a mobile video editing app acquired by Google in 2015.