The President of the United States, Barack Obama shared his support today to over 3 million teachers across the US with Coursera. In front of a packed house at the Superintendents’ Summit in DC today to promote the Future Ready Pledge as part of the ConnectEd Initiative, President Obama disclosed a new offering by Coursera and its partners to give teachers free Coursera Verified Certificates for district-approved professional development.

Coursera’s university and nonprofit partners will provide 50 high-quality teacher professional development (TPD) courses to US teachers for free throughout a two-year partnership. For teachers to access their free Coursera Verified Certificates, district superintendents—or equivalent administrators with the authority to approve TPD courses for Continuing Education Units (CEU)—must complete this approval form. When approved, teachers in the applying district will receive access to free Coursera credentials starting January 1st, 2015 after the district application has been verified. Teachers interested in this opportunity are also encouraged to follow the link to learn more and complete the form.

“For the next year, the company Coursera will offer free credentials for district-approved professional development courses to any teacher anywhere in the country. Because all the wireless devices and fancy software in the world won’t make a difference unless we have great teachers in the classroom,” said President Obama. By participating in the President’s initiative, Coursera and its partners hope to raise awareness and provide more opportunities to teachers across the country to build skills and enhance their professional development.

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