Teacher Discounts: List by Store

The best teacher discounts right now are adidas at 30% off, Michaels at 15% off the entire purchase including sale items, Madewell and J.Crew at 15%, and Nike and Dell at 10%. Office Depot pays 25% back in rewards on classroom supplies, and Target sells its Circle 360 membership to teachers for $49 a year. Every teacher discount below was checked on the company's own website in October 2026. For more ways to stretch a teacher's budget, see our money saving tips.

Quick answer: the best teacher discounts

The biggest teacher discounts we confirmed are on clothes, shoes and classroom supplies. adidas takes 30% off for verified teachers, Michaels takes 15% off everything including sale items, and Office Depot gives 25% back in rewards. For tech, Apple, Dell and Microsoft offer education pricing to K-12 and college staff.

Three rules hold almost everywhere:

1. Verify once, before you shop. Most stores check your status through ID.me, SheerID or their rewards program, and a document check can take a day.
2. Read who counts as a teacher. Some programs include college faculty, school staff, daycare teachers and homeschool teachers; others stop at K-12 classroom teachers.
3. Compare with the sale price. Many teacher discounts cannot be combined with other codes, so a big sale can beat them. Michaels is the exception, because its 15% works on sale items.

Teacher discounts by category

The tables below list every teacher discount we confirmed on the store's own website in October 2026, grouped by what you are buying. Each row gives the amount, who qualifies and how the store checks that you teach. Stores change these programs often, so check the terms on the store's site before a big purchase.

Classroom supplies (Michaels, Office Depot, Staples, Lakeshore)

Classroom supply stores give teachers the most consistent savings, because they want your back to school shopping. Michaels takes a flat 15% off, while Office Depot, Staples and Lakeshore pay you back in rewards you spend on a later trip.

Michaels applies its teacher discount automatically once your teacher status is linked to a free Michaels Rewards account, in store and online. Because it covers sale items, it stacks with weekly ad prices. Our guide to Michaels Rewards and coupons shows how to add a coupon and Rewards vouchers on top.

Office Depot and OfficeMax paid verified teachers 25% back in bonus rewards as of October 2026, capped at $100 in rewards per member per week. Online, you verify with ID.me while signed in to your Rewards account. In store, bring a valid teacher ID, your Rewards number and the teacher coupon. The offer excludes ink and toner, computers, tablets, monitors, projectors, TVs, postage and gift cards, and it cannot be combined with the VIP 5% benefit or other bonus rewards offers. Teachers can also set up a Classroom Wish List and earn 5% back on purchases made from it.

Staples invites teachers to enroll in Teacher Rewards, which its enrollment page describes as 5% back in rewards on school supplies. Check the current terms on that page when you sign up, because Staples has changed its teacher programs several times.

Lakeshore Learning runs Lakeshore Rewards, which turns points into Lakeshore Bucks to spend on a later order; check the expiry on your Bucks when you convert them. Teachers who add their birthday to their profile get a birthday gift, and Lakeshore's Clear the List program lets parents buy items from a teacher's classroom list.

Tech (Apple, Dell, Microsoft)

Tech is where a teacher discount saves the most money, because the prices are high. Apple, Dell and Microsoft all extend their education pricing to teachers, and each sets its own rules on who qualifies and how many items you can buy at the education price in a year.

Apple education pricing covers any employee of a public or private K-12 school in the US or Puerto Rico, including homeschool teachers, plus serving school board members and PTA or PTO officers, according to Apple's education sales policy (checked October 2026). College faculty and staff qualify under a separate rule. Apple limits how many of each product you can buy at education prices each year and can charge the difference if you did not qualify.

Dell gives teachers and faculty an extra 10% after you join Dell Rewards, which is free, and verify through SheerID. The discount covers up to two products per order and two orders a year, and excludes limited quantity deals, clearance, warranties, gift cards and select PCs. Dell's current offer runs until November 2, 2026. Our Dell coupons page lists other Dell savings.

Microsoft offers its education discount on select devices to teachers and educators, as well as students and parents. Public entities, nonprofits and business buyers do not qualify.

Clothes and shoes (adidas, Nike, J.Crew, Madewell, Old Navy)

Clothing and shoe brands give the biggest percentage discounts to teachers. adidas leads at 30% off, J.Crew and Madewell take 15%, and Nike takes 10% online. Most check your status through ID.me or SheerID, and J.Crew and Madewell also take a valid ID in store.

adidas applies the 30% after you choose Verify with ID.me in your bag, and the same ID.me check covers military members, first responders and medical workers. Our adidas coupons page lists the current codes. Compare the teacher price with the sale section before you buy.

Nike sends a single-use code after a SheerID check, which may ask for a school-issued document. You must be a Nike Member. You can request a new code every seven days, each code expires two weeks after it is issued, and the discount covers the first $500 of a purchase. It works only on Nike.com and in the Nike App, combines only with free shipping codes, and excludes Nike By You, gift cards, Apple products and select launch products (Nike teacher discount, checked October 2026). See our Nike coupons page for other offers.

J.Crew and Madewell both take 15% off for teachers. Madewell's discount works online and in stores for teachers 16 and older with a valid ID, verification lasts a year, and it cannot be combined with select promotions. Neither covers gift cards or past purchases.

Old Navy did not show a teacher discount on its own pages when we searched in October 2026. Its Super Cash and Encore rewards are the better way to save there.

Books and learning (Barnes & Noble, Amazon)

Book discounts for teachers have shrunk. Barnes & Noble ended its 20% Educator Program in February 2023, and Amazon does not list a teacher discount on its own site. Teachers buying books for a classroom now save more through bulk ordering, Barnes & Noble's membership and Amazon's regular discount sections.

Barnes & Noble discontinued Educator Program enrollments and renewals on February 23, 2023. Its help center describes a Premium Membership for Educators, free for K-12 educators, with the same benefits as its paid Premium Membership except the yearly tote bag. In October 2026 that program was listed as in beta and closed to new enrollments, so ask a bookseller if your store has reopened it. For classroom sets, Barnes & Noble points teachers to its institutional and volume discounts.

Amazon has no teacher discount program on its site. For classroom tech and supplies, its Outlet, Resale and Renewed sections offer the deepest regular discounts, which sell markdowns, graded returns and inspected refurbished tech.

Target

Target runs its teacher offers through Target Circle. Verified teachers can buy the yearly Target Circle 360 membership for $49, more than 50% off the $99 regular price. In 2026, teachers also got 10% off one storewide purchase during Teacher Appreciation Week (May 3 to 9) and 20% off one purchase for back to school (July 5 to September 12). Both of those have ended. Our guide to Target price match and Target Circle shows how Circle 360 pays off.

Target counts teachers, staff and faculty at US K-12 schools and colleges, daycare and early childhood teachers, and homeschool teachers. You verify in the Target app under Your discounts, or on Target.com under Settings, through SheerID.

Who qualifies: homeschool, retired, substitutes, faculty

Who counts as a teacher depends entirely on the store. Apple and Target include homeschool teachers, Target includes daycare teachers, and Apple, Dell, Nike and Target include college faculty. Most programs ask for proof of current employment, so retired teachers and substitutes should check each store's rules before relying on a discount.

If you are a substitute or a retired teacher, try verification anyway: services like SheerID and ID.me check documents such as a teaching license or a pay stub, and the store decides. If a check fails, the store's customer service can tell you which documents it accepts.

How to verify as a teacher (ID.me, SheerID, school ID)

Most stores verify teachers online through ID.me or SheerID, a few through their own rewards account, and some still accept a school ID in store. Online checks usually finish in minutes with a school email address or a document upload, and you only need to verify once per store, often for a full year.

Tips that save time:

• Have a document ready. A recent pay stub, a school ID or an employment letter with your name, school and a current date clears most manual checks.
• Use one ID.me account. It also covers military, first responder and medical discounts at brands such as adidas.
• Renew when asked. Madewell asks you to verify once a year, and Target and Nike may ask you to verify again.

The same services verify students and military members, so if you already use our lists of student discounts or military discounts, you may have an account already.

Teacher Appreciation Week deals

Teacher Appreciation Week 2027 runs May 2 to 8, according to National PTA, and National Teacher Day falls on the Tuesday of that week. Stores time their biggest teacher offers around it. In 2026, Target gave verified teachers 10% off one storewide purchase from May 3 to 9, so expect offers to appear in late April.

How to get ready:

1. Verify at Target, Michaels and Office Depot before May. Last minute verification can take a day if a document check is needed.
2. Watch your email and the store apps in the last week of April, when stores announce their teacher week offers.
3. Save big classroom purchases for the week if you can wait, especially at stores that give a one-time percentage off.

Parents and students who want to say thank you can look at the teacher's classroom wish list at Office Depot or Lakeshore, which also earns the teacher rewards on each purchase.

Free stuff and grants for teachers

Beyond discounts, teachers can get classroom supplies paid for. DonorsChoose, a nonprofit, lets public school teachers post requests that donors fund, and then buys and ships the items to the classroom. Store wish lists at Office Depot and Lakeshore let parents buy supplies directly, and some of those purchases earn the teacher rewards.

DonorsChoose is open to teachers employed full-time at a US public or public charter school who work directly with students most of the time. Posting is free. Its two request types:

• Classroom Essentials: basic supplies, with no minimum and a quick request.
• Classroom Projects: larger requests with a $100 minimum and a short note for donors. Items ship once the project is fully funded.

DonorsChoose's own blog says smaller requests are funded more often, so splitting a big wish list into a few smaller projects can help.

For free things for your own home, our list of free stuff online covers samples, birthday rewards and other freebies that cost nothing. Older teachers can also use our senior discounts list, because a few stores, including Michaels, give a separate discount at 55.

Teacher discounts FAQ