Ben Kornell and Tom Vander Ark on Predictions for Education in 2026

In this dual-episode podcast, Tom Vander Ark of Getting Smart and Ben Kornell of EdTech Insiders dive into the transformative year of 2025 in education and share bold predictions for 2026. They explore how AI-driven innovations, work-based learning, and personalized education models are reshaping teaching and learning. From the rise of AI-forward schools to the impact of generative AI on traditional classroom practices, Tom and Ben discuss key trends such as the shift to learner agency, creativity, and critical thinking. They also tackle pressing challenges, including the increasing automation of the workforce, the potential backlash against AI in K-12 education, and the growing importance of teacher training for AI integration. This episode is packed with insights, predictions, and actionable advice for educators, policymakers, and edtech leaders navigating the future of learning.

Outline

1. (00:00) The Rise of AI Automation and Its Impact on Education
2. (10:21) Work-Based Learning and Career Education
3. (15:23) AI-Forward Schools and New Learning Models
4. (24:59) Teacher Training and Professional Development
5. (29:09) Closing Thoughts and Looking Ahead

The Rise of AI Automation and Its Impact on Education

Ben Kornell: Hi, everybody. We have a special dual episode today. I’m Ben Kornell with EdTech Insiders.

Tom Vander Ark: And I’m Tom Vander Ark with Getting Smart. We’re doing a joint podcast to really talk about 2025, the year that was, and most importantly, our predictions for 2026. What’s around the corner? Ben, it’s so great to catch up with you.

Ben Kornell: Lots going on in the education world. Let’s kick it off with our first question. Looking back at 2025, what was the most significant shift or learning in AI and education from your perspective?

Tom Vander Ark: So, Ben, I want to go slightly off the ranch for this first one. I just want to highlight the big beginning of the automation of work—the rise of agents and robots in the commercial sector—because of its important implications in education and edtech.

I think we are just in the early innings of companies using generative AI to automate tasks and, soon, entire jobs. This year, we saw for the first time some weakness in the professional and technical markets, particularly for younger workers. I’m afraid it’s going to be worse in the spring.

As we think about 2026, the big implication of this phase of automation is that thousands of districts have begun reconsidering their learning goals. Districts have been thinking about a portrait of a graduate or learner profile for many years. The sudden changes in the nature of work have launched this reconsideration of learning goals, and people are starting to take seriously AI literacy, learner agency, creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity. That feels like the big takeaway from this trend of automation.

Ben Kornell: To double down on your point, one other thing that we’ve seen is that rote tasks are quickly being accomplished by ChatGPT, and therefore, it’s become more of a burning platform. It’s not just about looking forward to what the world is going to look like, but also about the unsustainability of the five-paragraph essay as a format in education. Every time you look at this push-pull, the real question people are grappling with is, “Okay, if we let go of these things, then what?”

The two major shifts I would highlight in 2025 are: first, AI and learning have become a huge focus for the large tech firms. Second, the idea of launching an edtech company that does X, Y, or Z with AI is demonstrably overshadowed by efforts from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Tom Vander Ark: And, Ben, just even as recently as the last two weeks—the month of November—there have been huge commitments by the super scalers, not only to new models but also to education. That’s my second big category of what happened in 2025 that’s going to impact 2026. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for education?

Ben Kornell: There are a couple of layers to that question. From an edtech perspective, if you thought that Google Classroom distorted LMS values, this is on a 10x to 100x scale of that. What I think this ultimately means in the edtech industry is that you actually have to laser-focus on niche areas that are not big enough for those broader hyperscalers to serve and that have unique user needs that only someone really paying attention to that sector can address.

That being said, this also converges with a moment where micro companies are now suddenly viable. You can build a 10-person company that generates $10 million, whereas before, you’d need a huge software engineering team to deliver on that. In the education space, the rise of AI automation is good for teaching and learning. Many of these areas that never had a big enough TAM to address—let’s say, learning Korean as a language—can now be tackled by entrepreneurs. They can build cheaply enough to address that market. With large super scalers providing infrastructure, the app layer can live on top, and we may actually have far better, more tailored solutions for things like personalized learning. It may not look like a personalized learning curriculum company all in one; it may look like layers of the cake with apps on top.

Tom Vander Ark: A great example of this, Ben, is the rise of video, particularly with the introduction of Nano Banana from Google, which is exceptionally good. You and Alex have done such a great job in the last six weeks of getting the word out on this. I think you guys, more than anyone else, really appreciate the extraordinary opportunity when it comes to learning—both formal and informal—of these video tools. Say more about that.

Ben Kornell: In November, we were at Google DeepMind, and they gave us a preview of the video. What we’re seeing today is mind-blowing. What we will be seeing is full-length production of feature-length movies that a 12-, 13-, or 14-year-old could actually create. When you think about what that has done in the past—whenever you’ve taken tools of creation and put them in the hands of learners—you actually have an explosion of learning because it’s so immediate. You learn to create, and learning to create happens so fast.

Literacy and writing in the early days were very scarce. When you learned to write, you would just write all the time and create. We are on the precipice of a creative explosion where those tools are in the hands of people. The reason Alex and I are so excited about it is the enduring problem with edtech has been engagement. Every efficacy study shows that if kids are engaged, that 5% that Lawrence Holt talks about, you get the outcomes. But if they’re not engaged, good luck. We’ve seen through social media and the rise of YouTube that these are truly engaging content mediums. Now, here it is in every educator’s and student’s hands. What an incredible palette to paint with.

Ben Kornell: Hi, everybody. We have a special dual episode today. I’m Ben Kornell with EdTech Insiders.

Tom Vander Ark: And I’m Tom Vander Ark with Getting Smart. We’re doing a joint podcast to really talk about 2025, the year that was, and most importantly, our predictions for 2026. What’s around the corner? Ben, it’s so great to catch up with you.

Ben Kornell: Lots going on in the education world. Let’s kick it off with our first question. Looking back at 2025, what was the most significant shift or learning in AI and education from your perspective?

Tom Vander Ark: So, Ben, I want to go slightly off the ranch for this first one. I just want to highlight the big beginning of the automation of work—the rise of agents and robots in the commercial sector—because of its important implications in education and edtech.

I think we are just in the early innings of companies using generative AI to automate tasks and, soon, entire jobs. This year, we saw for the first time some weakness in the professional and technical markets, particularly for younger workers. I’m afraid it’s going to be worse in the spring.

As we think about 2026, the big implication of this phase of automation is that thousands of districts have begun reconsidering their learning goals. Districts have been thinking about a portrait of a graduate or learner profile for many years. The sudden changes in the nature of work have launched this reconsideration of learning goals, and people are starting to take seriously AI literacy, learner agency, creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity. That feels like the big takeaway from this trend of automation.

Ben Kornell: To double down on your point, one other thing that we’ve seen is that rote tasks are quickly being accomplished by ChatGPT, and therefore, it’s become more of a burning platform. It’s not just about looking forward to what the world is going to look like, but also about the unsustainability of the five-paragraph essay as a format in education. Every time you look at this push-pull, the real question people are grappling with is, “Okay, if we let go of these things, then what?”

The two major shifts I would highlight in 2025 are: first, AI and learning have become a huge focus for the large tech firms. Second, the idea of launching an edtech company that does X, Y, or Z with AI is demonstrably overshadowed by efforts from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Tom Vander Ark: And, Ben, just even as recently as the last two weeks—the month of November—there have been huge commitments by the super scalers, not only to new models but also to education. That’s my second big category of what happened in 2025 that’s going to impact 2026. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for education?

Ben Kornell: There are a couple of layers to that question. From an edtech perspective, if you thought that Google Classroom distorted LMS values, this is on a 10x to 100x scale of that. What I think this ultimately means in the edtech industry is that you actually have to laser-focus on niche areas that are not big enough for those broader hyperscalers to serve and that have unique user needs that only someone really paying attention to that sector can address.

That being said, this also converges with a moment where micro companies are now suddenly viable. You can build a 10-person company that generates $10 million, whereas before, you’d need a huge software engineering team to deliver on that. In the education space, the rise of AI automation is good for teaching and learning. Many of these areas that never had a big enough TAM to address—let’s say, learning Korean as a language—can now be tackled by entrepreneurs. They can build cheaply enough to address that market. With large super scalers providing infrastructure, the app layer can live on top, and we may actually have far better, more tailored solutions for things like personalized learning. It may not look like a personalized learning curriculum company all in one; it may look like layers of the cake with apps on top.

The Rise of AI Automation and Its Impact on Education

Tom Vander Ark: A great example of this, Ben, is the rise of video, particularly with the introduction of Nano Banana from Google, which is exceptionally good. You and Alex have done such a great job in the last six weeks of getting the word out on this. I think you guys, more than anyone else, really appreciate the extraordinary opportunity when it comes to learning—both formal and informal—of these video tools. Say more about that.

Ben Kornell: In November, we were at Google DeepMind, and they gave us a preview of the video. What we’re seeing today is mind-blowing. What we will be seeing is full-length production of feature-length movies that a 12-, 13-, or 14-year-old could actually create. When you think about what that has done in the past—whenever you’ve taken tools of creation and put them in the hands of learners—you actually have an explosion of learning because it’s so immediate. You learn to create, and learning to create happens so fast.

Literacy and writing in the early days were very scarce. When you learned to write, you would just write all the time and create. We are on the precipice of a creative explosion where those tools are in the hands of people. The reason Alex and I are so excited about it is the enduring problem with edtech has been engagement. Every efficacy study shows that if kids are engaged, that 5% that Lawrence Holt talks about, you get the outcomes. But if they’re not engaged, good luck. We’ve seen through social media and the rise of YouTube that these are truly engaging content mediums. Now, here it is in every educator’s and student’s hands. What an incredible palette to paint with.

Work-Based Learning and Career Education

Tom Vander Ark: A related category is the bipartisan excitement we have about work-based learning. I’m really excited about the increase in the number of internships that we’re seeing. There’s a niche category now that we call client-connected projects. Companies like Riipen, for the last three years, have been hosting these client-connected projects mostly for higher ed students. But we’re seeing these hosted client projects or community projects now moving into high school. Ben, I think you guys interviewed the leadership of District C, which is doing teamships.

Ben Kornell: Yep.

Tom Vander Ark: Similarly, NAF, the big career academy network, is big on these teamships. I’m excited that we’re going to see more work-based learning and that more of it is going to be tech-supported. We could probably throw career sims into this category as an exciting new example of not just video but immersive experiences related to career education.

Ben Kornell: Yeah, I mean, on the career education side, there are threads of this that have been around for 40, 80, even 120 years. What has always been the criticism of career pathways is the academic rigor. Is the academic rigor there? Is this a non-college track, and therefore, are we expecting lower rigor?

So much of what I think about is how assessment drives what schools do. The ability now to create a portfolio of work and actually assess it for rigor, competencies, and skills—AI as a technology is creating breakthroughs in that category. But also, I think we’ve come to a place where, from a change management standpoint, people understand that an individual i-Ready test score or SAT score isn’t enough to tell the full story of a student. These richer, experiential pathways have gained steam. Add to that the pressure colleges and universities are facing to actually train people with real job skills, and now you have your push-pull in the system. It’s not just about getting X, Y, or Z on your transcript; it’s about having real, meaningful experiences in your portfolio to get into college.

The elements of the system have to align. I think 2025 has been a year of alignment. We’re talking a little bit about what’s going to continue into 2026. Whether it’s naturally going to happen or whether it’s intentional, we’ve got to double down on that because of what you said about automation and the joblessness that would ensue if we don’t think about these experiences much earlier.

Tom Vander Ark: I super appreciate that. I want to connect that to the rise of entrepreneurship—another idea in education that’s been around the edges for decades. A lot of people are beginning to take seriously the idea that every student is an entrepreneur in the future and has this enormous opportunity to create value—not just prepare for value creation, but step into it while they’re in high school. I think we’re going to see more and more schools take that seriously.

Speaking of which, we saw the beginning in 2025 of AI-forward schools—new school models that are AI-forward. You’ve interviewed some of them. Is that going to grow next year? Are we going to see that expand?

AI-Forward Schools and New Learning Models

Ben Kornell: As a trend, I think it will definitely expand. We also just reported this last week that college majors with the word “AI” are growing at 40% to 50% in the course catalog for fall of 2026. Alex and I talked a little bit about whether this is just window dressing to reframe computer science degrees into something more appealing to students. What I worry about is that, from a job market standpoint, AI or not AI will soon become irrelevant. It’s like the internet or not the internet. When we had internet companies in the ‘90s, it was like, “That’s an internet company, and that one’s not.” It all starts to merge, and they just become companies.

I worry that when we have someone doing an AI degree, they might be better served specializing in data and statistics or focusing on the real tooling if that’s the field they’re interested in. The same thing applies to AI schools and their thematic focuses. Then there’s the second group: the Alpha School, where the AI is doing the teaching.

Tom Vander Ark: Are you bullish on Alpha?

Ben Kornell: I have a nuanced take. I feel like they’ve done the meteoric rise, but their hero’s journey in edtech is inverse. We build you up, and then we tear you down, right? If you look at the current rules and structures of the system, where test scores tell all, they’ve optimized. They’ve basically said, “Go to the learning gym. Do your workout with the AI, get your higher score, pass the test, and move on. By the way, in the afternoon, we’re going to do all the creative stuff that schools should be doing.” They’re basically a no-excuses school in the morning and a progressive school in the afternoon. That’s how they’re reconciling it.

As someone who believes that the test score bars have led us astray from what really creates competent, relevant student learning for the future, I feel like they’re optimizing for the wrong thing. I do think they’ll outperform a 1990s KIPP school. But when you talk to KIPP leadership today, they realize they’ve got to think about internships, career pathways, and all of those things. I know Joe well, and I know that team—we’ve had McKinsey on the pod. I also think they’re opening themselves up to a lot of criticism by saying they’ve got it all figured out. Sometimes it’s encouraging to have someone willing to be bold and unapologetic about redesigning schools.

My prediction is that Alpha Schools will have a somewhat linear trajectory, bankrolled by their wealthy founder, but they will spur innovation in adjacent school redesign models that will be far more impactful. They’ll give those people cover to say, “We’re not exactly like Alpha School, but we’re using some of these tools.”

Tom Vander Ark: Let me pile on. I think your prediction is already coming true with Flourish Schools, John Danner’s startup in Nashville. It feels to me like a really thoughtful version of what McKinsey put forward. They’re using apps that Danner has proven successful in the last three years in reading, writing, and mathematics. They’re building a really thoughtful project-based engagement platform. A fourth component they’ve borrowed is the Compass from Valor Prep, which is a super thoughtful social-emotional learning framework. They’re building that in, and it just feels like a very thoughtful approach by a proven entrepreneur.

Ben Kornell: I’m bullish on Flourish. To add to that, Tom, they’ve also innovated on the business model. The microschool business model has fundamentally suffered from a couple of dilemmas. One is the value of that last chair. When you only have 50 slots, that 49th slot is 100% of your profit. That 50th slot is 100% of your profit. People end up admitting students on the cusp because they have to survive, rather than because the program is a fit. John really wanted to redesign the cost structure.

The second is that we have more commercial real estate available now than at any time in history because, post-COVID, people didn’t return. The challenge in charter schools was always real estate, but those schools are too big to fit in commercial spaces. He’s figured out a commercial model. The third thing is that these networks had diminishing returns at scale. As you opened your 10th, 20th, or 30th school, it actually decayed the value to the original school. The original parents and the original value proposition were reduced over time, and quality control decreased as you grew.

What they’ve created is not just the academic package but the operational package that allows a single administrator-entrepreneur to run it as a node in a network. You could open 1,000 additional locations, and it’s never going to take away from the resourcing of the initial school. As much as we talk about learning models, when someone creates a breakthrough on the business model and marries that together, that’s when I get really excited about the trajectory.

Ben Kornell: So, our second question is: What is one bold prediction you have for how AI will change teaching or learning in 2026? This is ripe for debate, so I’ll go with one and then share a couple of others. I’m curious to hear what yours is.

I believe we are going to have an AI backlash in 2026, and at least five major school districts in the United States will ban AI for student-facing use in their classrooms. I got to meet Tony Blair, and he was talking about labor unions in the UK and their evolving thinking about AI. It really made a strong impression on me. They’re a little less tech-optimistic in the UK and a little more like, “Every new technology has led to job loss here.”

I can honestly say the number of data points that create political winds to shut down AI for kids is just too many. All the screen time concerns are covertly also going against AI. The New York Times had maybe six articles in a series of three weeks about screen time. I think we’re in the year of the backlash for K-12.

Tom Vander Ark: That was third on my list, Ben. I agree. Just to pile on to that one, I think the midterms are going to be characterized by a lot of fear-based rhetoric and proposals for bad state legislation. It’s going to be compounded by, as you suggested, some reactive policies at some of our larger school districts. That’s a big area of concern.

My big prediction is probably not such a big prediction, but I am on Team Voice for 2026. I think voice is really going to emerge as a primary user interface (UI), and glasses are going to become an important wearable this year, at least in the consumer market. I think you’ll see expanding applications in some service verticals and in workforce training. This all might be justification for me buying myself a pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses for Christmas and wearing them around the last few days, but I have been slow to adopt voice as my primary UI. I think it’s getting so good now, and there are so many good wearable devices that work well with voice as a UI, that I think 2026 is going to be the year when it goes big time and becomes not just a fringe but a mainstream UI.

Ben Kornell: I agree that’s likely to happen, but I wonder about the education side of it. When we talk about learning, I definitely think it will impact learning. When you talk about education, that infers the systems and the institutions.

Tom Vander Ark: Probably less so in formal education.

Ben Kornell: One of my favorite things to do is go to the pockets where innovation really happens in schools. Special education departments can either be the backwater or they can be your most innovative department. I think voice is a game changer for special education access.

Another area I go to is music departments. They always do competencies. If you want to see who actually is your best person in the building at providing feedback on competencies, it’s your arts teachers. The ability for arts teachers to take photos, provide feedback, and leverage AI—but now to listen to what the kids are playing in rehearsal and give them feedback—there’s a way in which those are the knowledge sources, those are the nodes we need to tap. Unfortunately, in the hierarchy of the school, those generally are the teachers at the lowest end of the hierarchy. I would love to see people flipping it because that’s actually where the innovation is going to come from.

Tom Vander Ark: I love that application. It’s a great example. I mentioned career simulations earlier as a sort of application of video and video production. I do think in mainstream education, particularly high school, college, and workforce training, that career simulations are going to become an important part of every pathway. They will become part of the background assessment and the real-time feedback provided as part of these experiences. I think companies like School Joy, which have been hard at work behind the scenes for a couple of years, are going to have a breakout moment in 2026. As people appreciate the importance of work-based learning, they’ll also appreciate the benefit of career simulations as part of a work-based learning progression. I think they’ll have their moment in 2026.

Teacher Training and Professional Development

Ben Kornell: That was actually one thing I wanted to talk about. If there’s one thing educators, companies, or policymakers should prepare for in 2026, what would it be? I’m very excited about teacher training. When I was coming into the classroom, it was during No Child Left Behind, and I was trained on drill-and-kill methods to focus on far-below-basic and below-basic students. We have wrought a generation of that kind of teacher training.

Simulations are the best way to train teachers for the ups and downs of the classroom. Also, natively using new teachers who natively use AI and can understand how to leverage it for dynamic assessment and engagement will breathe new life into education. Last but not least, teaching is one of the least likely roles to be displaced by AI. We’re going to have a bunch of professionals coming onto the market where this is actually going to be an increasingly attractive job. If I were to talk to policymakers especially, but also educators and companies, I’d say this: A lot of the edtech people I talk to are trying to sell AI tools into a very saturated market with these big players. But if they could change teacher onboarding, professional development, and retention supports, they could create game-changing impact. There’s lots of budget there—$4,000 to $6,000 per teacher of budget—whereas for edtech tools, you’re talking about $5 to $8 per student. It is both a market opportunity and an impact opportunity. That’s my advice for 2026. What’s your advice for 2026?

Tom Vander Ark: I love that, Ben. A big shoutout to Erin Mo and the Pathways Alliance, which really, over the last two years, has unlocked Department of Labor dollars for teacher apprenticeships. Now, almost 40 states are on board offering teacher apprenticeships. What you just described is a way we can supercharge teacher training, starting while kids are in high school and thinking about education as a pathway.

My big recommendation for something that education leaders can do in 2026 is not just adopt AI literacy as a goal, but adopt AI capability as a goal. We learned this from our new friends at Ohio University, which is where Paul Rader is an alumnus. He talks about Ohio fondly on his weekly AI podcast. We called them up and found out that they have a super thoughtful approach to incorporating AI into business education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The shift they’ve made is not just accepting that kids know about AI, but by AI capability, they mean demonstrated value creation using smart tools. There’s a commitment to not just teaching learners about AI but engaging them in real projects connected to real businesses and requiring demonstrated value creation.

Closing Thoughts and Looking Ahead

Ben Kornell: Carnegie Mellon has a great program like that—the METALS program—that they do. It’s team-based. When we say AI literacy, I think we mean a couple of different things. I agree with you. What I worry about is that we’re talking about AI literacy in the same way we talked about social media—awareness of bullying and harassment, and kind of the Common Sense Media flavor of how to recognize what a fake is and how to critically evaluate the information or text you’re getting.

The unlock with AI is that it breaks barriers of creation. It allows people with relatively limited technical expertise to go super far in the technical creation process. That’s what I think you’re hitting on. The third vector here, which I think will be essential for humankind, is ultimately managing one’s own data and coming up with your own data plan. You’re essentially building skills where, at the end, you can create your own large language model (LLM) and infuse it with your own data. This allows you to have portability—a protected, portable “you” that you can plug into any of the models and get the personalized resources you need without exposing all your data.

Those are the functions we need: a critical eye and the ability to interpret inbound AI-generated tools; second, the ability to build with it; and third, the ability to control and leverage your data for maximum value. That, I think, is what colleges and universities can do. But there are individual innovators at middle schools who are doing that stuff now, and that’s what’s particularly exciting about this moment.

Tom Vander Ark: Hey, that is a great list of trends, predictions, and notes on preparation. I want to wrap up just by saying thanks for your leadership in 2025, Ben. You and Alex have just done such great work at EdTech Insiders. It’s a fantastic new resource for the sector, and a lot of us super appreciate your weekly contributions.

Ben Kornell: Thanks so much, Tom. We follow in some great footsteps. You’ve really set the bar with Getting Smart. I loved all your predictions. I’m excited to share more predictions on EdTech Insiders. I’d also love to hear predictions from the audience. You’re going to post this in the Getting Smart channel, and we’ll post this with EdTech Insiders.

For all of you out there listening, we want to hear: Looking back at 2025, what was the most significant shift or learning in AI in education from your perspective? What’s one bold prediction you have for 2026? And what’s advice that you would give for educators, companies, or policymakers?

Thanks so much for this time, Tom.

Tom Vander Ark: Thank you, Ben.

Ben Kornell: We’ll do it again in the new year down here in San Diego.

Tom Vander Ark: Love it. See you there.

Ben Kornell: All right. Talk to you soon.

---

Guest Bio

Ben Kornell

Ben is the Managing Partner of Common Sense Growth Fund at Common Sense Media, a School Board Member for the San Carlos School District as well as the Co-Founder and Podcast Host of Edtech Insiders. 

In 2021, Ben took on the role of Chief Growth Officer at Higher Ground Education, where he played a key role in acquiring Altitude Learning and expanding the Montessori Schools Network. Before that, he served as the President & CEO of Altitude Learning and AltSchool, where they focused on shifting educational models to be learner-centered. 

Prior to their roles in the education sector, Ben worked as the Executive Director and COO at Envision Learning Partners. Ben also gained experience in the healthcare industry as a Regional Operations Director and Director of Strategic Business Development and Corporate Strategy at DaVita.

Links

• LinkedIn
• ASU + GSV Summit