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Free year · verified US teachers

Anthropic just gave
teachers a free year
of Claude.

Every verified K-12 teacher in the US gets a full year of premium Claude, free. But the free part isn’t what matters. What matters is what it does that every other AI can’t — and most people are missing it.

Verified against Anthropic’s announcement · Launched July 14, 2026

Free premium AI for US teachers — Claude by Anthropic on a teacher's desk
The real differentiator

Every AI can write you a lesson plan. This one knows whether it actually matches what your students are supposed to learn.

The 20 minutes you get back.

Here’s the thing about AI lesson plans. Any tool can generate one in seconds. The problem is what happens next: you spend twenty minutes checking whether it lines up with your state’s standards, whether it’s pitched at the right level, whether it’s even teaching the right thing.

Claude for Teachers connects to something called Learning Commons. It carries the academic standards for all 50 states — and not just the standard itself, but the smaller competencies underneath it, and the order students typically learn them in.

So the alignment happens before you get the material, not after. You’re not proofreading the AI against your curriculum. It already started there.

Learning Commons connects Claude to academic standards and skills across all 50 states
Learning Commons · standards + skills for all 50 states
What that looks like

You ask for a lesson on constructing linear functions. Claude pulls your state’s standard, maps it to the competencies underneath, and builds the lesson grounded in the learning science — instead of a generic worksheet you then have to reverse-engineer to fit your class.

The teaching skills were built with learning scientists. That’s the difference between a chatbot that writes and an assistant that understands how kids actually learn the thing.

Constructing linear functions lesson built around the state standard and the misconceptions students have first
The standard, the common misconceptions, and the lesson built around them

The part nobody is talking about.

The free year also includes Cowork and Claude Code — the paid-tier tools most teachers never see on the free plan. Cowork means Claude can carry a task forward on its own, while you’re not there.

What that unlocks:

Cowork organizes roster, diagnostics, attendance and notes into a differentiated lesson plan for tomorrow
Cowork · roster in, tomorrow’s differentiated plan out — while you’re away

that’s not a chatbot. that’s an assistant. — j.

And before you ask about privacy.

Training is off by default

For verified educator accounts, your conversations are not used to train AI models — off by default, not a setting you have to hunt for.

Built to comply with FERPA

Student data is covered by a K-12 Data Processing Addendum written to comply with FERPA, and Anthropic built the program with the American Federation of Teachers — aligning to the standards the union is developing for AI in K-12.

How to claim it.

  1. Go to Anthropic’s teacher page.
    claude.com/solutions/teachers — the official signup, linked below.
  2. Verify you’re a US K-12 educator.
    Individual teachers, verified through the standard educator check.
  3. Sign up by June 30, 2027.
    That’s the deadline to claim your full free year. Miss it and you miss the window.
Free for verified K-12 teachers · until June 30, 2027

Are you the teacher —
or sending this to one?

You’re the teacher

Claim your free year.

Verify as a US K-12 educator and Anthropic gives you the whole premium year — standards, Cowork, all of it.

Claim it →
You’re sending it

Forward it right.

Someone you love teaches and is running on empty. Copy this, drop the link, hit send:

“You have a free year of premium Claude coming — it knows your state’s standards and can grade exit tickets while you sleep. Claim by June 30, 2027: thesofttech.co/claude-for-teachers”

New to Claude yourself? Start with my free 25-prompt kit →