Age & Grade Entry

Every product should have an assigned grade.

To understand the codes developed for grade entry, we need to understand the problems we're solving:

• Variations used in packaging
• Special education considerations
• Ranged values
• Acceptable values chart
• False-positive matches
• Not Applicable (NA) for Grade Filtering
  • Choosing ALL or NA
• Creeping grades
• CPSIA requirements (safety warnings)
• Customer preference
• Ease of data entry

The underlying principle is to:

• Make data entry easy, and let the database handle all the hard work
• Provide a customizable experience tailored to the customer

Overview

The grades entered in the Profiles tab of CounterPoint are sent to the website where they:

• Allow customers to filter products by age/grade
• Appear with the Product
  • Under the product title
  • In the details tab
  • On auxiliary pages like Compare Products

Variations Used in Packaging

Consider the 'grade' printed on the packaging of these three products:

All three products are for the same 'grade' but each manufacturer has chosen to label it differently. It's important that the text shown on the website matches what's visible in the picture. A customer might hesitate if the image for the first product says Grade 2 but the text on the page says Age 7.

The one exception is the last product which uses an arbitrary level assignment. Level C for an alphabet puzzle would obviously be a very different grade than Level C of an algebra book series. You will need to determine the appropriate grade for products like this.

To be consistent with the manufacturer's printed grade, we will enter the grade attributes for these products as follows:

1. 
   A number by itself indicates grade.
2. 
   The prefix of a indicates age.
3. 
   We will convert the arbitrary level to a concrete grade. This could be entered as a7, but by default entries will be according to grade.

Do not project your own age or grade bias on to products.

• Avoid assigning a more restrictive value just because you think the product is too cute for upper grades, or because a product looks like it is for older students.
• Avoid expanding the manufacturer's value(s) because you think "This says grade 2, but I think it would work for grades 1 and 3 as well."

Stick to the grades provided by the manufacturer.

Special Education Considerations

Assign grades to products as they're intended for students of typical abilities. Special education teachers/parents know to filter products by their students' ability level instead of their physical age. (For example, a fourth grade special education teacher knows her students are performing at a second grade level, and will search for grade 2 products.)

Ranged Values

Many products are designed for children of multiple ages or grades:

Entry for these products is relatively straightforward, and we will enter the grade attributes for these products as follows:

1. 
   A number by itself indicates grade.
2. 
   The prefix of a indicates age.
3. 
   We will again convert the arbitrary level to concrete grades.

Some grades inherently indicate a range of grades. For example preschool encompasses multiple ages, and high school is more than one grade level. Additionally some grade ranges can overlap.

• Middle school and high school (middle school can end at grade 8 or grade 9)
• Preschool and Pre-K both cover age 4

The complexity of assigning concrete grades to these products is left to the database algorithm, and data entry once again matches the printed designation.

Download Grade Codes PDF

The only values you can enter are shaded in green.

a5+ or 3+ are not valid entries! Separately enter min: a5 and max: +

Enter values like Grades 4-8+ as min: 4 and max: +

1. 
   p is our code for preschool.
2. 
   It's okay to mix-n-match code styles.
3. 
   overlapping ranges are acceptable.
4. 
   + is shorthand for …and up.
   a5+ is not a valid entry!

False-Positive Search Matches

A false-positive search match is when a product is shown to the customer because it mathematically matches the grade(s) they chose, but an average person would not expect the product to appear in the search results.

Consider the following alphabet puzzle:

Suppose a customer comes to the website and filters their search to Age 12. Because this product is marked as ages four and up, it will appear in the results.

It is unlikely that a person searching for grade 7 expects to see an alphabet puzzle in their search results. This is a false-positive match.

Let's fix this.

1. 
   The underscore is shorthand to hide the product in search results above this grade.

An underscore prefix followed by an age or grade tells the database to treat the product as if the max is age 8 (in this example), but to show 'and up' on screen to match the packaging.

Any max age/grade/range code can be entered with an underscore prefix to clip search results. You can not clip the min value, and the underscore shorthand is not available in the min field.

Not Applicable for Grade Filtering

Some products should not be associated with any grade. Showing a stapler or scalloped border to a customer searching for second grade products is another type of false-positive.

Assign the code NA to the min value.
Assign NA to the max value as well, or leave it blank.

Use NA — not N/A. There's no slash.

A product assigned to NA that has choking or other hazards will be filtered as "NA" but display as "Ages 3+" or similar on the website.

Choosing ALL or NA

Generally, if a product is used directly for education in any way, use ALL. If a product is not used directly for instruction, NA may be more appropriate.

Examples of ALL products:

• Pocket charts
• Pencil grips (some have more specific grade ranges)
• Dice
• Test tubes
• Maps
• Homework folders
• Certificates & Awards

Examples of NA products:

• Much of decor
  • (unless it says something like "Welcome to 2nd Grade")
  • Decor is tricky: Even a math poster that isn't truly grade-specific should probably still be ALL so that it is included in a search for "Math posters for 2nd grade"
    • Rule of thumb: If it's decor for a subject area (Language, Math, etc) use ALL. If it's just cute decor (a pack of bird cutouts or a cute border) use NA
• Many of the stickers & motivation products
• Some office & school supplies
• Many of the AV & technology products
• Some Art & Music products
• Name tags — but not nameplates

Examples of it depends products:

• Paper
• Pencils
• Furniture

Remember:
When NA is assigned to a product, it is hidden everywhere that any grade filtering is used.

It's hard to predict how customers will search and filter the website. In many cases, logically clipped grades may be a better approach than assigning ALL or NA.

Why not just leave the field blank?
Because the product will continually show up on the report of products requiring age/grade entry.

Avoid Creeping Grades Based on Your Personal Bias

Another Type of False-Positive Match

Imagine a product labeled by the manufacturer as "Grade 1."

You might look at the product and think "This could also work for a second grader who's performing below grade level."

Avoid this tempation.

• Assign grade levels according to typical students' abilities (not for low- or high-performing students)
• The manufacturer is the expert for their products. If they felt like Grades 1-2 was appropriate, they would have labeled it so.
• Let the [second grade] teacher/parent decide if they want to explore lower or higher graded products
  • Parents & teachers both know and frequently say "She's in second grade, but doing third grade work." They'll know to filter for 3rd grade.
• The mistake becomes more obvious on the website: showing a product(s) labeled only Grade 1 or only Grade 3 when the customer asked for just Grade 2 is wrong

Configured Products to the Rescue!

A configured product elegantly addresses the temptation to creep the grades. Configured products make it so easy for the customer to discover lower- and higher-grade versions of a product.

CPSIA Compliance (Safety Warnings)

We are required to list all safety warnings on our website. Most safety warnings include age restrictions which we are also required to show.

Warning label information is entered in a different place.

Assign ages and grades independently of the age restrictions on the warning label.

When entering the minimum and maximum age/grade values for a product:

• Follow the age assigned by the manufacturer (not the warning label)

When no age is given (stickers or decoratives for example):

• Enter the age as 'all' or the age/grade you think is appropriate

The website will ensure displayed ages & grades comply with safety warnings.

Customer Preference

It is our desire to allow customers to filter products by age or grade – whichever they feel most comfortable with.

The conversion from age to grade or vice-verse will be handled by the website and does not need to be considered when assigning min/max ages or grades.

• If it says grade, enter grade
• If the box says age, enter age
• If it has a range, enter the range

Ease of Data Entry

If the min and max values are identical, the max value can be left blank.

The website will assume max is the same value as min.