Key:grades

This page is about grades in the educational system. For the indicators of surface firmness in track roads, see Key:tracktype. For the hiking difficulty scale, see Key:sac_scale.

The grade levels (known variously as classes, forms, standards, or years) of a school or other educational institution indicates the educational stages of students who attend the school. Grade levels may have different meanings across countries, regions, or even from school to school in the same region.

Rationale

In educational systems that use them, grade levels are familiar to the general public and often verifiable on the ground. In some countries, maps customarily label schools with different icons depending on the grade levels they serve or display the grade range after the school name.

How to map

Add this tag to any node, way, or relation that has a amenity=school tag. The value should be an alphanumeric (but usually numeric) grade level. In the usual case where a single school serves multiple grades, list each one separated by a semicolon or comma. For brevity, you can form a range separated by a hyphen (e.g., 1-12).

If you are unfamiliar with the local educational system, do not guess the grade levels solely based on the school's name.

Also consider the following complementary indications of educational stages:

• Some educational institutions, especially in early childhood education, are strictly limited to students of certain ages, regardless of educational attainment. Add min_age=* and max_age=* tags based on the institution's policies.
• Since each country's educational system defines numeric grade levels differently, if at all, the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) defines a less granular but more uniform scale that can be applied to any educational institution globally. isced:level=* is set based on the official country-specific mapping from grade levels to ISCED levels. ISCED levels are primarily of interest in statistical analysis, but a global renderer may make use of it in the same manner that a local renderer may use grades=*.
• school=* is an ad hoc classification based on local distinctions. This key is especially useful in situations where a school's years are not formally numbered. Though it is less common than isced:level=*, it is potentially more usable for mappers and geocoders.

Regional variations

Portugal

As of 2023, grades=* is tagged based on the minimum and maximum years of instruction at the school (see also min_age=* and max_age=*).

Ages and levels of instruction in Portuguese schools

United States

In the U.S., use the official grade level numbers used by each school, which are standardized at the state level. Indicate early childhood grade levels using the traditional abbreviations rather than 0. The table below also includes the corresponding isced:level=* tags for convenience:

Grades	grades=*	isced:level=*	Notes
Anything before preschool	N/A	N/A	nursery=yes (including Early Head Start)
Preschool	N/A	0	preschool=yes
Pre-kindergarten	PK
Transitional kindergarten	TK		California
Junior kindergarten	JK		Wisconsin
Four-year-old kindergarten	4K		Wisconsin
Kindergarten	K		Also tag amenity=kindergarten or kindergarten=yes depending on whether higher grades are offered.
Transitional first grade	T1		A few private schools
First grade	1	1
Second grade	2
Third grade	3
Fourth grade	4
Fifth grade	5
Sixth grade	6
Seventh grade	7	2
Eighth grade	8
Ninth grade	9
Tenth grade	10	3
Eleventh grade	11
Twelfth grade	12
Thirteenth grade	13		North Carolina and Oregon
Special-needs education	SP	N/A	Probable mistagging

Examples

• grades=0-6
• grades=1-7
• grades=11-14
• grades=9-12
• A few users have instead used "to" as a separator, for example grades=1 to 5
• Sometimes each grade has been listed, separated by semicolons or commas, for example *grades=9,10,11,12

• 

  United States:
  preschool=yes grades=K-5 on the Lower School
  grades=6-8 on the Middle School
  grades=9-12 on the Upper School

• 

  United States:
  grades=PK-8

History

In 2008, roughly 2,000 occurrences of grades=* were introduced in an import of schools from MassGIS, which used the American tagging scheme. In 2017, a formal proposal that conflicted with this usage was drafted and converted into a key description page without going through the proposal process. In 2018 and 2019, imports in Australia grew the key's usage to about 8,000 occurrences with values set according to the draft proposal. [1][2] iD added a Grades field to the School preset in 2020, resulting in more organic growth. [3]

2017 proposal

The "principal characteristics" listed below are based on a 2017 draft proposal, which was apparently focused on Canada, France, and Sweden and a particular educational curriculum. These grade numbers have been used in other countries where they have no official standing, due to how previous versions of this article were worded. (Even in Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador and Québec use a different system that resets at the beginning of senior high and secondary school, respectively.) Schools in New South Wales, Australia, have been imported with grade levels according to this scheme. You may also tag grades below 1 as "PK", "JK", and "SK".

Grade	Description	Principal characteristics
0	Senior kindergarten	Normally between the ages of 5 and 6, designed to give a sound basic education in reading, writing and mathematics along with an elementary understanding of other subjects.
1	Grade 1	Between the ages 6 and 7. It is the first grade in elementary school, and the first school year after kindergarten (Grade 0, also known as senior kindergarten).
2	Grade 2	Ages 7-8 (usually). Often the start of low-level chemistry teaching.
3	Grade 3	Ages 8-9. Grade 3 is the fourth year of primary education in most countries. It is also the third school year of primary school.
4	Grade 4	Ages 9-10. Students study subjects such as math, science, English grammar and writing, literature, and history (often their state of residence during 4th grade). Most schools also offer health, music, art, and physical education.
5	Grade 5	Ages 10-11. Usually the last grade of elementary school; but in some cases elementary school can extend to Grade 6.
6	Grade 6	Ages 11-12. Sometimes the end of elementary school. Usually the first year where students have different teachers for each subject, but some schools have the same classroom for most of the subjects (such as mathematics, science, social studies, geography, etc.).
7	Grade 7	Ages 12-13. New topics sometimes include scientific notation, concepts with negative numbers, and more advanced geometry. Biology is also taught; and instruction in the fundamental skills of reading, writing and math, as well as history, geography, crafts, music, science, art, and physical education (phys ed. or gym), are provided.
8	Grade 8	Ages 13-14. Students in Grade 8 typically study English, mathematics, science, social science, health and physical education, the arts, technology, and a learning language.
9	Grade 9	Ages 14-15. Grade 9 and Grade 10 are sometimes the starting of high school; depending on which country it is in.
10	Grade 10	More specialized education which typically includes ages 15 and 16. Occasionally, precalculus can be taught for those who are advanced in math. Literature, science, and social studies are also prominent subjects.
11	Grade 11	Ages 16-17. They often acquire more advanced world culture and geography knowledge, along with some more-advanced social studies such as psychology and government.
12	Grade 12	Ages 17-18. Typically the last year of high school; though some countries offer Grade 13 as part of high school. In many Canadian high schools, student during their year, hold a series of fundraisers, grade-class trips, and other social events. At the end of the year, Grade 12 students often attend graduation which usually involves an official ceremony.
13	Grade 13	Ages 18-19. Sometimes the end of secondary school, but in Quebec this is the start of college. Students generally study their chosen subjects.
14	Third Level	Ongoing education; ages 19-20. The last school before higher education is called ongoing school and is voluntary, though many choose to attend. At this level students decide among separate career-related schools. Some of the more practical schools last only two years, and some students may choose to attend an extra year to study higher education.

See also

• Not to be confused with surface:grade=* or incline=*