Tag: new features

Khan Academy is excited to announce a major update to our Financial Literacy course, making it more comprehensive, classroom-ready, and aligned with the real-world money skills students need today. With brand-new lessons across every unit and eight newly added Teacher Resource lessons, this expanded course equips educators with the tools needed to explore and explain today’s financial landscape with clarity, confidence, and practical relevance.

Teach real-world financial skills students can use right away 

Today’s learners need more than definitions and textbook examples. They need financial knowledge they can apply to their daily lives. Our updated financial literacy curriculum introduces students to practical, essential topics such as:

• How to file taxes
• Understanding unemployment
• Using digital payment apps (Venmo, Cash App, and others)
• Building credit and managing debt
• Understanding the basics of investing and saving for retirement

These lessons help students connect financial concepts to real decisions they will face, preparing them not just for a test, but also for life beyond the classroom.

Try this in your next class: Assign “The Menu of Opportunities” from the Careers and Education unit. This short, real-world video helps students compare different paths after high school and opens the door to a rich discussion about their goals and future plans.

Assign from your dashboard

Modern financial topics that spark meaningful classroom discussions

The revised course covers timely issues that reflect the financial challenges and choices students encounter today. Lessons include:

• Debt management and responsible borrowing
• How to read and understand insurance contracts
• Long-term financial planning
• Evaluating risks and rewards in major financial decisions

Presented using accessible, real-world scenarios, these topics make the course an ideal foundation for classroom conversations about money, financial responsibility, and building a secure future. Whether you teach middle school, high school, or you support students transitioning into adulthood, this updated content is both relevant and essential.

Comprehensive teacher resources for every unit

To make teaching financial literacy easier than ever, we’ve added eight new Teacher Resource lessons, meaning every unit now includes built-in instructional support. These resources include:

• Real-world financial videos
• Classroom activities and discussion prompts
• Facilitation tips for guiding complex conversations
• Practical examples that help students connect concepts to lived experiences

Whether you’re a veteran financial literacy teacher or you’re introducing these concepts for the first time, these tools will help you teach money skills with confidence and purpose.

These videos are made possible by Intuit for Education, helping students develop essential financial skills that will last a lifetime.

Start the year strong with NGSS-aligned science resources

Kick off the school year with confidence using Khan Academy’s NGSS Science Unit Guides—designed to make lesson planning easier and instruction more effective. Aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), these guides complement Khan Academy’s free courses in biology, chemistry, and physics, helping you deliver cohesive, inquiry-driven learning experiences that truly resonate with students.

Whether you’re a new teacher or a veteran educator, these unit guides give you everything you need to start the year prepared and stay on track throughout each unit.

What’s inside the NGSS Unit Guides?

Each unit guide is built to support both teacher and student success. Inside you’ll find:

• Lesson overviews – Quick snapshots of what’s covered, saving you valuable prep time
• Essential questions – Open-ended prompts designed to promote deep student thinking and classroom discussion
• Learning objectives – Clear, focused goals that break down NGSS standards into teachable steps
• Teaching tips & strategies – Expert advice for keeping lessons engaging, interactive, and accessible for all learners
• Integrated Khan Academy resources – Plug-and-play videos, articles, and exercises to enrich your lessons without extra prep

Why teachers love these NGSS Unit Guides

What sets these guides apart is their emphasis on real-world relevance. Each unit is anchored by real-world phenomena, from environmental issues to everyday applications of science, that spark curiosity and help students see why science matters.

These guides aren’t just lesson aids—they’re a teaching toolkit that helps you foster inquiry, critical thinking, and a genuine love of science in your classroom.

Back-to-school season is the perfect time to reset your writing instruction routines—and we’re here to support you with a quick and flexible professional learning series focused on Khan Academy Writing Coach.

Writing Coach, powered by Khanmigo, is a free tool designed to help students grow as writers and give teachers powerful support—without adding to your workload. This four-part video series includes short sessions you can watch on your own time. By the end, you’ll be ready to confidently integrate Writing Coach into your classroom and even share what you’ve learned with fellow teachers.

Chapter 1: Empowering student writers in the age of AI

Great writing starts with great guidance, and that comes from you. In this session, we explore how Writing Coach supports authentic writing development with step-by-step guidance, not shortcuts. You’ll learn:

• Why we built Writing Coach with ethical AI use at its core
• How it supports writing instruction—not replaces it
• What makes it uniquely aligned with Khan Academy’s mission to provide a free, world-class education for every student

Chapter 2: Assigning writing practice—your way

Assigning daily writing practice can feel overwhelming—especially when the National Commission on Writing recommends 60 minutes a day. Writing Coach helps you scale writing in a way that’s realistic and teacher-friendly.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to:

• Create and manage writing assignments in just a few clicks
• Customize prompts to fit your curriculum and voice
• Stay in control of the writing process while students get the support they need

Chapter 3: Building student confidence from day one

If your students often say, “I don’t know where to start!” then you’re not alone. Writing Coach gives students the structure and encouragement they need to take the first step and keep going.

This session walks through the student experience with Writing Coach, highlighting how it helps learners:

• Brainstorm ideas and understand expectations
• Draft independently with real-time feedback
• Revise effectively—without relying on copy-paste solutions

Chapter 4: Using teacher reports to guide instruction

Great teachers know that meaningful feedback drives growth, but it can be hard to find the time to monitor every student’s writing journey. Writing Coach provides real-time insights to help you teach smarter, not harder.

In this final chapter, learn how to:

• View student progress at a glance
• Get alerts on originality issues
• Identify class-wide trends to inform your next lesson

You’re ready. Now bring it to your classroom.

You’ve explored how Writing Coach supports student growth, aligns with your instruction, and gives you powerful data—all while keeping you in the driver’s seat. Now it’s your turn to try it out, explore with your students, and maybe even share what you’ve learned with a colleague.

New improvements to Khan Academy’s 3rd–5th grade Illustrative Math-aligned courses

We’re excited to share that Khan Academy’s 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade math courses have been updated with new content aligned with the Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum. These updates bring additional instructional videos and practice to your IM-aligned math classroom, helping students build strong foundations and deep conceptual understanding in math.

Stronger alignment and classroom-ready

Each unit in these courses has been thoughtfully redesigned to support the scope and sequence of IM, giving educators confidence that their instruction parallels the curriculum they’re already using. This improved alignment reduces prep time and ensures that students are practicing the learning objectives they need to master. Whether you’re introducing multi-digit division or exploring fraction multiplication, you’ll find resources that reinforce key grade-level skills while fitting seamlessly into your lesson plans.

Focusing on the why behind the math

What sets these courses apart is their strong emphasis on conceptual understanding. Instead of relying on rote memorization or procedural drills, Khan Academy’s updated Illustrative Mathematics courses foster deep conceptual understanding. From using place value to explain regrouping to modeling fractions with area models, students are encouraged to think critically and explain their reasoning. With visual models, strategies, and step-by-step hints, learners build skills in the understanding and application of math concepts, inspiring their confidence and leaving them better prepared to apply their knowledge in new contexts.

Flexible, differentiated support for every learner

Recognizing that every classroom includes a wide range of learning needs, these courses are built with flexibility and differentiation in mind. You can mix and match instructional videos and interactive exercises with scaffolded hints to support whole-group lessons, small-group instruction, or independent learning. Whether a student benefits from video instruction, visual models, or extra practice, the courses offer tools that help you meet students where they are while maintaining high expectations and academic rigor.

Why this matters for your classroom

Khan Academy’s updated Illustrative Mathematics-aligned courses for grades 3–5 are built to be a trusted, high-quality partner in your math instruction. With resources that closely follow your curriculum and support deep conceptual understanding, these updates help you teach with confidence. Use them to streamline planning, differentiate practice, and ensure every student gets meaningful, grade-level-aligned support right when they need it.

Introducing Khan Academy’s revised AP U.S. History and AP U.S. Government & Politics courses

Khan Academy is excited to share some significant updates to our AP U.S. History (APUSH) and AP U.S. Government and Politics (AP Gov) courses, further strengthening their alignment to College Board standards and common state frameworks. These revisions are designed to support educators in delivering rigorous, engaging instruction while giving students the tools they need to succeed on the AP exam and beyond.

Stronger alignment and smarter practice

Our revised APUSH course offers standards-aligned content that matches what you’re already teaching, making it easy to integrate it into your daily instruction. You can now assign multiple-choice practice questions that go beyond simple drilling. In contrast, each exercise is crafted to assess student understanding of key historical concepts and themes, helping you identify strengths and address learning gaps with precision.

The updated AP Gov course ensures full coverage of the latest Course and Exam Description (CED), including recent developments like Dobbs v. Jackson. All practice materials, from foundational concepts to required Supreme Court cases and documents, are designed to reflect the rigor and scope of the current exam, making them ideal for use as warmups, review, or independent assignments.

Support for writing and exam strategies

Both courses now include new strategy-focused articles to guide students through every writing task on the AP exams. In APUSH, students get targeted support for writing short-answer questions, document-based questions, and long essay questions, with practical tips that demystify each format and help build writing confidence. In AP Gov, students can master all four free-response questions—concept application, quantitative analysis, SCOTUS comparison, and the argument essay—with clear explanations and proven strategies.

Why this matters for your classroom

Whether you’re a veteran AP teacher or you’re new to the course, Khan Academy’s revised AP USH and AP Gov resources offer flexible, high-quality support for instruction and assessment. These updates make it easier to plan effective lessons, assign targeted practice, and reinforce key concepts with confidence. In your classroom, that means more time spent teaching and less time searching for aligned material. Every student gets the content and strategies they need to succeed on the AP exam and build lasting understanding of U.S. history and government.