Tutoring has long been recognized as one of the most powerful and empirically proven methods for enhancing a child’s academic performance, yet, somewhat paradoxically, only a small fraction of American students actually benefit from it. According to a comprehensive 2023 survey encompassing the nation’s largest and most diverse school districts, fewer than ten percent of students were found to be receiving any form of supplemental tutoring. This striking disparity arises, in large part, from one overwhelming barrier: cost. Personalized instruction often comes with a prohibitive price tag, frequently reaching into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month, thereby excluding families without significant disposable income.
Tim Novikoff, an experienced educator and former Google product manager, has made it his mission to address this inequity. He founded a company called Super Teacher, whose central goal is to transform access to individualized academic support. Through a sophisticated AI-powered tutoring application designed specifically for elementary school learners, Super Teacher delivers high-quality instruction for a dramatically reduced price—only $15 per month, or even less for families who choose the annual plan at $10 per month. By combining technology, pedagogy, and affordability, the startup seeks to make the experience of having a dedicated tutor attainable for households across the entire country.
Though still in its early years, the four-year-old company has already achieved notable momentum. Approximately 20,000 families have subscribed to Super Teacher’s services, demonstrating growing demand for educational technology that bridges the equity gap. Moreover, the program has been adopted by public schools in New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii, signaling not only individual enthusiasm but also institutional validation. The startup has earned significant recognition within the tech community as well—Super Teacher was selected as a Top 20 finalist in the highly competitive Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, an event scheduled to take place in San Francisco.
Before his entrepreneurial ventures, Novikoff served as a mathematics instructor in New York City, first teaching in Harlem and later at Stuyvesant High School, one of the city’s most prestigious public institutions. His classroom experiences revealed to him a striking educational divide. At Stuyvesant, nearly all students benefited from private tutoring, while many of his Harlem students lacked such opportunities. The resulting contrast in academic preparedness and confidence left a deep impression on him, reinforcing his commitment to ensuring that personalized education is not reserved for only the most privileged. In his interview with TechCrunch, Novikoff emphasized that tutoring consistently proves to be the most powerful educational intervention available—by a wide margin. He characterized the unequal access to it as not only unfortunate but fundamentally unjust, explaining that his mission is to democratize the opportunity for every child to learn with the same individualized attention that wealthier families take for granted.
Super Teacher’s application features dynamic, animated tutors who interact with students through lifelike dialogue driven by AI-generated voices. Children communicate verbally with the app, participating in a conversational learning experience that mirrors the responsiveness and engagement of speaking directly with a human teacher. Distinct from many other educational technology products that rely on large language models (LLMs) to generate output, Super Teacher instead utilizes a deterministic content system. This deliberate design ensures that every response is accurate and educationally sound, avoiding the factual inaccuracies or inconsistencies that sometimes emerge from generative AI tools.
Despite his enthusiasm for AI’s potential to supplement and strengthen learning, Novikoff is careful to articulate its role responsibly. He underscores that artificial intelligence cannot and should not displace human educators within schools. Rather, he envisions AI tutors as complementary instruments—extensions of a teacher’s toolkit in the same spirit as calculators, digital whiteboards, or other assistive classroom technologies that enhance, rather than supplant, the teacher’s influence. In his view, technology should augment human capability while preserving the irreplaceable value of personal mentorship that defines truly effective teaching.
Currently, Super Teacher focuses exclusively on elementary-level education—a purposeful decision shaped by both Novikoff’s personal experiences as a parent and his recognition of a significant gap in the educational technology market. Few existing edtech solutions cater specifically to the youngest learners, despite the crucial role these early academic years play in establishing foundational skills and enthusiasm for learning. Looking toward the future, Novikoff intends to broaden the company’s impact by expanding into both earlier childhood programs and higher grade levels, as well as by forging partnerships with a wider range of school districts across the United States.
Novikoff’s entrepreneurial background further contributes to his credibility and technical insight. Before launching Super Teacher, he founded Fly Labs, a mobile video-editing application that gained substantial popularity and was ultimately acquired by Google in 2015. This blend of educational passion and technological expertise encapsulates his broader mission: to combine cutting-edge innovation with a deep understanding of how students actually learn best.
For those interested in discovering more about Super Teacher and its ambitious efforts to reinvent how children receive quality one-on-one instruction, the company will be featured at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, held in San Francisco from October 27 to 29. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the platform firsthand, listen to company presentations, engage with numerous other innovative startups, and hear from an array of influential guest speakers across four dedicated stages. It promises to be an illuminating glimpse into the future of education, where technology and empathy converge to create learning experiences that are as accessible as they are effective.
Sourse: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/28/super-teacher-is-building-an-ai-tutor-for-elementary-schools-catch-it-at-disrupt-2025/
