Super Teacher is building an AI tutor for elementary schools – get it at Disrupt 2025

Tutoring is one of the most effective tools for improving a child’s education, yet too few children in the United States receive it. A 2023 survey of the nation’s largest school districts found that less than 10% of students receive tutoring. One factor is that private lessons are too expensive for many families, often costing hundreds or thousands of dollars per month.

Tim Novikov, a product manager and former educator at Google, wants to change that. His startup, Super Teacher, offers an AI-powered learning app for elementary school students that costs $15 a month, or $10 with an annual plan. Super Teacher aims to make tutoring accessible to families across the country.

The four-year-old startup is gaining traction. Nearly 20,000 families have signed up for Super Teacher, and public schools in New York, New Jersey and Hawaii are now using the app, Novikov says. Super Teacher is a finalist for the Top 20 Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco.

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

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

The Super Teacher app features animated teachers with AI-generated voices that guide students through interactive lessons. Students talk to the app using voice, such as a conversation with a teacher. But unlike many edtech tools, Super Teacher doesn’t use large language models to generate responses. Instead, its content comes from a deterministic system designed to always provide the right answers—avoiding the mistakes that can befall MBAs.

Novikov believes that AI teachers can have a valuable impact on children’s lives, but he insists that AI will never replace teachers in the school environment. He points to AI teachers as a tool that teachers can use, like smart boards or calculators, rather than replace them entirely.

Super Teacher is only available to elementary school students, a decision Novikov made to help his own children and because few ed-tech companies target this age group. Looking to the future, he hopes to expand to younger and older grades and partner with more school districts across the United States

Novikov was previously founded Fly Labs, a mobile video editing app, was acquired by Google in 2015.

If you want to learn more about Super Teacher from the company itself — while also checking out dozens of others, hearing their thoughts, and hearing from guest speakers at four different stages — join us at Disrupt, October 27-29 in San Francisco. Learn more here.