Common Sense Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum is a free web curriculum that helps teachers build students’ digital literacy skills in grades K–12. It offers more than 165 updated lessons, described on its About page as 170+ lessons, across six topics: healthy habits; relationships and communication; privacy and safety; cyberbullying and online harm; digital footprint; and information and media literacy. Lessons combine interactive activities and discussion guides. They take approximately 20 minutes in K–8 and 40 minutes in grades 9–12, and address current issues such as AI literacy, social media, screen time, deepfakes, consent, and AI hallucinations. Schools can work through the grade-level sequence across a school year or choose and reorder lessons. The material can fit library and media lab sessions, core-subject classes, advisory, health, and social-emotional learning programs. Teachers and administrators can take a free, self-paced course on implementing the curriculum. Development involved Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education, with input from experts at Georgetown, Wellesley, and Cornell; researchers at the London School of Economics and the University of New Hampshire independently evaluated it. Common Sense also offers implementation support and district partnerships.
Who it is for
It suits K–12 teachers and school leaders who want a structured way to teach digital literacy across grade levels. Schools can use the full sequence or select lessons for library time, core classes, advisory, health, or social-emotional learning.
What is good
- Free K–12 curriculum with 170+ lessons.
- Covers six areas of digital literacy and well-being.
- Lesson activities and discussion guides support teaching.
- Schools can select and reorder individual lessons.
- Free, self-paced implementation course for educators.
- Standards-aligned and includes teacher tools.
What to know first
- Sessions are approximately 20 or 40 minutes, depending on grade band.
- The curriculum is delivered on the web.
Verdict
Choose it if your school wants a free, standards-aligned K–12 curriculum with flexible lesson sequencing and a broad set of digital well-being topics. Its grade-specific lesson lengths and web delivery are practical considerations when planning where it fits in the school schedule.
Get started with Common Sense Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum
- Open the Common Sense Education digital literacy curriculum website.
- Choose the full grade-level sequence or select individual lessons.
- Use the scope-and-sequence and integration-guide documents to plan delivery.
- Take the free, self-paced implementation course if useful.
- Contact Common Sense about school or district implementation support.
Questions about Common Sense Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum
How much does the curriculum cost?
The Free plan is free. The curriculum is offered free.
What grades does it cover?
It is designed for grades K–12 and is offered to districts, schools, and classrooms.
How many lessons are included?
It includes more than 165 updated lessons; the About page describes the offering as 170+ K–12 lessons.
What topics do the lessons cover?
The six core topics are healthy habits, relationships and communication, privacy and safety, cyberbullying and online harm, digital footprint, and information and media literacy.
How can a school use the lessons?
A school can follow the full grade-level sequence over a school year or choose and reorder lessons. They can be used in libraries, media labs, core-subject classrooms, advisory, health, or social-emotional learning programs.
Is it available outside the web?
The listed platform is web, with lessons and implementation resources presented on Common Sense Education web pages.
Common Sense Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum plans and pricing
All plansCompared on k-12 curriculum platforms
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grade band
- k-12
- Subject scope
- multi_subject
- Standards alignment
- Yes
- Teacher tools
- Yes
