AoPS CEO Ben Kornell on productive struggle, AI-era learning, and the mindset every student needs to meet the moment.
INTERVIEW | by Victor Rivero
A seasoned educator turned edtech trailblazer, Ben Kornell has built his career around a single conviction: learners rise when we raise the ceiling for what’s possible. Now leading Art of Problem Solving (AoPS), he brings an unusually wide-angle view of education—shaped by years in the classroom, inside school districts, and at the helm of organizations pushing the boundaries of how students learn.
‘For me, the goal has always remained the same — to help learners unlock their full potential, and so I collected experiences that allowed me to be a change agent towards that vision.’
His path has wound through AltSchool’s cutting-edge labs, Higher Ground Education’s global Montessori network, Envision Learning Partners’ performance-assessment work, and the investment lens of the Common Sense Growth Fund. Along the way, he co-founded Edtech Insiders, helping spark one of the sector’s most influential communities of practice. At AoPS, Kornell is channeling that rare blend of practitioner insight, operational rigor, and big-picture imagination into a mission worthy of the moment: empowering a new generation of confident, curious problem solvers ready to take on anything the future brings—making him an ideal subject for this EdTech Digest interview.
Chief Product Officer Andrew Sutherland with Chief Executive Officer Ben Kornell at Art of Problem Solving.
What first drew you to edtech—and what convinced you this was the space where you could make the biggest impact?
The irony in education is that we know what works: we have plenty of data about reading, math, and learning strategies that are high impact. We also have exemplary classrooms, schools, and even school districts that offer incredible case studies about how education can transform. What we have yet to figure out in education: how do we scale what works?
This was my driving question as a veteran middle school teacher that pushed me into the edtech realm. We need to transition schools and systems away from the ‘factory model’ towards a whole-child, learner-centered approach, but we lack many of the tools to actually get there.
That being said, I have always felt that it’s called ‘ed-tech’ for a reason: the ‘ed’ucation comes first. The tech follows!
Your path into edtech leadership is anything but conventional. What experiences along the way led you to AoPS—and why does this role feel like the right fit at this moment in your journey?
I think there are two career journeys: the ladder or the lilypad. The lilypad approach is premised on building skills and expertise across a broader set of career experiences that ultimately lead to greater impact. For me, the goal has always remained the same — to help learners unlock their full potential, and so I collected experiences that allowed me to be a change agent towards that vision.
Art of Problem Solving is really the culmination of that journey to unlock learner potential. AoPS has built a foundational K-12 curriculum that brings rigor and joy to math, in person or online. As CEO, I draw from classroom teaching experience, business skills developed at Stanford, operations experience at DaVita, scaling innovation at Envision Education, and leading cutting-edge learning products at AltSchool. AoPS is really about raising the ceiling on what learners can achieve, and so I am thrilled to bring these experiences to help unleash the power of engaged, motivated students.
Taking the helm as CEO of AoPS is a big move. What motivated the jump—and how’s the ride so far? What moments or milestones have stood out since you stepped into the role?
Art of Problem Solving was founded by Richard Rusczyk with the mission to discover, inspire, and train the great problem solvers of the next generation. And for 22 years AoPS has been doing just for students ranging from International Math Olympiad Winners to curious 2nd graders!
My son Nico (pictured above with Ben at a School Board meeting) was actually in the latter category — in 2020, our 2nd grade COVID pod adopted Beast Academy as our math curriculum. One day, Nico and his five friends were laughing in the living room while they were supposed to be doing math. I barged in only to find that they WERE doing math. It was a comic book that made hard math fun. After years in edtech, I felt like I had found the holy grail product — so I reached out to Richard to connect. Fast forward five years, and now I have the honor of carrying Richard’s legacy and impact forward as CEO. It is truly special to be around this incredible team at AoPS and our inspiring students!
You’ve become a familiar name in the edtech world through Edtech Insiders. Now that you’re leading AoPS, has your role with the podcast shifted — and how do those two worlds intersect?
Alex Sarlin and I founded Edtech Insiders as a passion project to foster community at a time when education, and edtech specifically, was rapidly changing. It has been incredible to see the community grow and evolve to meet the moment, from remote learning to the AI revolution.
Alex has been the driving creative energy since the beginning — he made the podcast and newsletter ‘must listen/must read’ for everyone in edtech! And thanks to our subscribers, we have been able to hire a small team to support us in expanding our reach.
As I’ve moved back into an operational role running an education company, I am both an Edtech Insiders host and consumer! So much of what we talk about in Week In Edtech connects directly to what I’m thinking about as AoPS CEO. We are rapidly headed toward a world where AI-unlock AND AI-overload are both potential outcomes for kids and families. How do you navigate that with a company that has deep expertise in pedagogy, curriculum, and learning experience? How will we support learners to thrive in an even more uncertain future? The entire edtech sector is wrestling with these questions.
AoPS seems to be about more than just tech—it’s about cultivating a mindset, a purpose, a way of thinking. Can you unpack how that philosophy shows up in the work, and why it matters more than the tools themselves?
There really is no secret to what Art of Problem Solving does – it’s in our name. We start with really challenging, engaging (and often fun) problems and build from there. In educator-speak, our pedagogy focuses on ‘productive struggle’ and a spiral curriculum where students are exposed to algebraic and geometric thinking at the earliest ages. From a student perspective, our books and courses are really about raising the academic bar. We want kids to develop the confidence that when they face novel problems in college, career, and life that they have the tools to figure it out.
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Victor Rivero is the Editor-in-Chief of EdTech Digest. Write to: victor@edtechdigest.com
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