Common Curriculum

What Common Curriculum does

Common Curriculum Inc., doing business as Common Planner, is a K-12 educational technology company founded in 2009 and headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company operates a real-time collaborative lesson planning platform used by over 300,000 teachers and administrators across the U.S. and select international markets. The product combines AI-assisted planning, standards mapping across all 50 U.S. states, backward design from learning goals, drag-and-drop plan reorganization, and team co-planning inside a shared digital planbook. The company was recently rebranded from "Common Curriculum" to "Common Planner."

The platform is offered as a two-tier SaaS product: a free "CP Basic" plan for individual teachers that operates as a perpetual freemium funnel, and paid school and district subscriptions with admin dashboards, custom templates, calendar tools, and shared planning archives. Underlying technology includes a generative AI text-based lesson planning assistant integrated into the collaborative planner, real-time synchronization for co-editing, and a comprehensive K-12 standards database covering all 50 U.S. states. Distribution combines product-led growth for individual teacher self-sign-ups with a demo-driven enterprise sales motion for school and district deployments, supported by content marketing, organic social (Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok), and a free public K-12 Standards Search tool that drives SEO traffic.

The company operates with a very lean team of 1–10 employees and has disclosed a seed investment from the Abell Foundation in 2012. Notable customer signals include Memphis City Public Schools, the CJR school district (relationship dating to 2012), and a Teach for America endorsement. There is no public revenue, no venture capital ownership disclosed, and no parent company.

Name

Common Curriculum

Legal name

Common Curriculum Inc.

Website

https://commoncurriculum.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Common Curriculum (dba Common Planner) provides an AI-powered, real-time collaborative lesson planning platform for K-12 teachers, schools, and districts. Used by over 300,000 educators, it combines standards mapping across all 50 U.S. states with a freemium individual tier and paid school/district subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Lesson Planning Software

NAICS

All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), All Other Miscellaneous Schools and Instruction (611699)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Curriculum, Lesson Planning & Instructional Content Platforms (EDAJAMAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Teacher-Led Digital Lesson Packages & Instructional Resources (EDAFACAL), Standards Alignment & Curriculum Mapping (State/National) (EDAJAFAD)

Keywords

• Lesson planning software
• K-12 education technology
• Collaborative planning platform
• Curriculum mapping tools
• Instructional planning software

Headquarters

HQ city

Baltimore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription - Individual Teachers: Freemium model with CP Basic free forever for individual teachers. Paid tiers likely available for advanced features.
2. Subscription - Schools & Districts: School-wide plans with admin tools, custom templates, and team collaboration features. Offers 30-day free trial for schools and districts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Common Curriculum (doing business as Common Planner) sells a SaaS-based, AI-powered collaborative lesson planning platform for K-12 teachers, schools, and districts. The product enables unit and lesson plan creation, K-12 standards mapping across all 50 U.S. states, real-time team co-planning, and admin-level oversight tools. It is offered as a freemium CP Basic tier for individual teachers and paid annual subscriptions for schools and districts with admin dashboards and collaboration features.

Product overview

Common Curriculum offers Common Planner, a single unified product available in two tiers: a free CP Basic plan for individual teachers and a paid plan for schools and districts. The platform provides collaborative lesson planning with AI built in, standards mapping, admin oversight tools, and a shared planning archive. It also includes a free Standard Search tool for K-12 standards across all 50 states. The company was rebranded from Common Curriculum to Common Planner.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Common Planner A real-time collaborative lesson planning platform for K-12 teachers, schools, and districts that combines generative AI assistance, K-12 standards mapping across all 50 U.S. states, drag-and-drop unit and lesson organization, backward design workflows, and admin-level oversight tools. The product is offered as a freemium CP Basic tier for individual teachers and as paid annual subscriptions for schools and districts.
• K-12 Standard Search A free, publicly available K-12 standards search tool that lets educators look up learning standards from all 50 U.S. states. It functions as a standalone free resource that drives organic search traffic and teacher sign-ups to the main Common Planner platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 300,000 teachers and admins actively using the platform

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Teach for AmericaminorOthersTeach for America logo appears on the testimonials section of the website, indicating a partnership or endorsement relationship with the non-profit education organization.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Planbook: Planbook is a digital lesson planning platform for K-12 teachers, directly competing with Common Planner on lesson planning, standards tracking, and schedule organization for individual teachers and schools.
• Kiddom: Kiddom is a K-12 platform that combines curriculum, lesson planning, standards alignment, and instruction in an integrated workflow — overlapping with Common Planner's standards-mapped lesson planning and admin oversight functionality.
• Eduphoria: Eduphoria provides K-12 educators and administrators with lesson planning, assessment, and professional development tools — directly competing with Common Planner's school-wide planning and admin oversight features.
• Planboard: Planboard (by Chalk) is an online lesson planner used by individual teachers and schools — a direct functional competitor to Common Planner for standards-aligned lesson planning.
• Otus: Otus is a K-12 learning platform that combines gradebook, assessment, lesson planning, and standards tracking for teachers and administrators, competing with Common Planner in school-wide instructional workflows.

Emerging players

• Nearpod: Nearpod offers interactive K-12 lesson delivery and formative assessment tools. While it overlaps with Common Planner in lesson workflows, it focuses on classroom delivery rather than planning, making it a complementary/competing tool for instructional leaders.
• Pear Deck: Pear Deck provides interactive lesson presentations and formative assessment for K-12 teachers. It overlaps with Common Planner in teacher workflow tools but emphasizes in-class presentation rather than standards-aligned planning.
• Newsela: Newsela provides instructional content with standards-aligned reading levels for K-12. It intersects with Common Planner's curriculum and standards alignment features but focuses on content delivery rather than lesson authoring.

Broad incumbents

• Canva for Education: Canva for Education offers lesson planning templates and classroom content tools used by K-12 teachers. As a broad content/design platform, it competes for teacher planning time but lacks Common Planner's standards-tracking depth.
• Google Classroom: Google Classroom is a widely adopted free K-12 LMS from Google. While it doesn't replace lesson planning, its ubiquity and bundled pricing create a competitive ceiling for standalone planning tools like Common Planner, especially in budget-constrained districts.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/commonplanner
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@commoncurriculum
• Facebookfacebook.com/commonplanner
• Instagraminstagram.com/getcommonplanner
• TikTokcmpln.com/tiktok
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/common-curriculum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Common Curriculum