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Common Sense Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum
San Francisco, California, United States
What it is
Common Sense Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum is a free web curriculum for building digital literacy skills from kindergarten through grade 12. It offers more than 165 updated lessons, described elsewhere as 170-plus K–12 lessons, across six areas: healthy habits; relationships and communication; privacy and safety; cyberbullying and online harm; digital footprint; and information and media literacy. Lessons include interactive activities and discussion guides, taking about 20 minutes for K–8 or 40 minutes for grades 9–12. Topics include AI literacy, social media, screen time, deepfakes, consent, and AI hallucinations. Schools can follow a complete grade sequence or select and reorder lessons. A free self-paced implementation course is available for teachers and administrators. The curriculum can fit library, classroom, advisory, health, or social-emotional learning programs, with standards alignment and teacher tools.
For and against
For
- Free K–12 curriculum
- More than 165 updated lessons
- Six defined digital-literacy topic areas
- Flexible lesson selection and sequencing
- Free self-paced educator course
Against
- Web platform only
- Lessons require school implementation planning
- No free trial is offered
The verdict
This curriculum gives K–12 educators a broad, free lesson collection with flexible scheduling and current digital-life topics. Its web-based format and school-focused delivery shape how it fits local programs.
Who it suits
It is designed for teachers, administrators, schools, and districts serving K–12 students. The web delivery supports use across classrooms, libraries, media labs, advisory, health, and social-emotional learning settings.
Plans and prices
Free
K–12 curriculum · 170+ lessons
Read 8 Oct 2026 · commonsense.org
On the record
- Audience
- The curriculum is designed for grades K–12 and is offered to every district, school, and classroom.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Current issues
- The curriculum addresses topics including AI literacy, social media, cyberbullying, screen time, digital footprint, deepfakes, consent, and AI hallucinations.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Delivery
- Lessons and implementation resources are presented on Common Sense Education web pages, and the implementation page links to scope-and-sequence and integration-guide documents.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Implementation
- Schools can use the full grade-level sequence across a school year or select individual lessons and reorder them as needed.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Integration
- The curriculum can be used during library or media lab time, in core-subject classrooms, advisory periods, or health and social-emotional learning programs.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Lesson count
- The curriculum includes more than 165 updated lessons; its About page describes the offering as 170+ K–12 lessons.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Lesson format
- Lessons include interactive activities, discussion guides, and flexibility, and are approximately 20 minutes for K–8 or 40 minutes for grades 9–12.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Professional development
- Common Sense offers a free, self-paced course for teachers and administrators implementing the curriculum.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- The curriculum gives teachers a free, research-backed framework for building students’ digital literacy skills.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Research and partners
- The curriculum was developed with Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education, informed by experts at Georgetown, Wellesley, and Cornell, and independently evaluated by researchers at the London School of Economics and the University of New Hampshire.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Security and privacy
- Common Sense describes its Privacy Program as evaluating privacy policies to help parents, teachers, schools, and districts make informed choices about learning tools.privacy.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Support and partnerships
- School and district leaders can access implementation support and district partnerships, and Common Sense invites schools to contact it about partnering.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
- Topics
- The six core topics are healthy habits, relationships and communication, privacy and safety, cyberbullying and online harm, digital footprint, and information and media literacy.commonsense.org · read 8 Oct 2026
