Admissions — Isabet Academy Program Finder

An interactive, CMS-managed "Program Finder" that routes prospective families to the right program by gender and grade — built for Isabet Academy.

Description

Choosing the right program is the first question every prospective family asks. This plugin answers it in two taps: the visitor selects who the student is (Boys / Girls) and which grade or age, and the matching program is revealed instantly — with a clear call to action that links straight to that program's page.

No page reloads, no dead ends, and nothing hard-coded. Every gender + grade rule is mapped to a WordPress page from the admin panel, so the admissions team can change destinations, labels, and notes without touching code.

Why it fits a boarding/day school

A school with separate boys' and girls' academies, a preschool, a day-student track, and a language school cannot present one generic "Academics" page without confusing visitors. The Program Finder removes that friction by guiding each family to exactly the program that applies to them.

Key features

• Two-step finder — gender, then grade/age. The result appears the moment both are chosen, and updates live as selections change.
• CMS-managed decision table — each gender + grade range maps to a page. First matching rule wins, so narrower ranges can sit on top.
• Rich result card — built automatically from the destination page: title, excerpt, and featured image, plus an optional Label (badge, e.g. "Full Boarding") and Note (e.g. a Delaware campus note or a preschool toilet-training requirement).
• No dead ends — when a range has no program (for example, a grade band a given gender isn't offered), a friendly "no program available — let's talk" card with a contact button is shown instead of an error.
• Shareable selections — the choice is reflected in the URL (?gender=female&grade=11), so links and campaigns can deep-link to a result.
• Accessibility-first — full keyboard support, focus moves to step 2 after a gender is chosen, aria-pressed state on options, aria-live result region, and prefers-reduced-motion support.
• Mobile friendly — responsive layout, 44–48px touch targets, stacked buttons on small screens.
• Analytics built in — program_finder_step1, program_finder_step2, program_finder_result, and program_finder_cta_click events are pushed to GTM dataLayer, gtag, and a DOM CustomEvent. URL pre-selection does not fire events, keeping funnel data clean.
• Theme-safe — all styles are scoped under .admissions-finder; nothing leaks into the surrounding theme.
• WPBakery ready — usable as the "Admissions — Program Finder" element or as a shortcode.

Usage

Embed the finder anywhere with the shortcode:

[admissions_program_finder]

If you use WPBakery Page Builder, add the Admissions — Program Finder element from the Content category instead.

Installation

1. Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or install the ZIP from Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen. A default decision table and display settings are created automatically.
3. Open the Admissions menu in the dashboard.
4. In the Decision Table, set the destination page for each gender + grade row. Optionally add a Label (badge) and a Note per row. Leave the page empty for any range you do not offer — the friendly "no program" card will be shown.
5. Under Appearance & Text, set the headings, button labels, the contact URL (used for the secondary "Get in Touch" button), and the grades to display.
6. Add [admissions_program_finder] to your Admissions page — and, ideally, the Academics landing page — or insert the WPBakery element.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are programs matched?

By a decision table. Each row defines a gender and a grade range (Min–Max) and points to a WordPress page. Rules are evaluated top to bottom and the first match wins, so place narrower ranges above broader ones. Grade value 0 means Preschool.

Where does the result card content come from?

From the destination page: its title, its excerpt (or an automatic summary of the content if no excerpt is set), and its featured image. The optional Label and Note come from the matching decision-table row.

What happens when a grade band isn't offered for a gender?

Leave that row's page empty. Instead of an error, the visitor sees a friendly "there is currently no program available — let's talk" card with a contact button.

Can I deep-link to a specific result?

Yes. Append ?gender=male&grade=5 (or grade=0 for Preschool) to the page URL. The finder pre-selects that choice without firing analytics events.

Does it work without WPBakery?

Yes. The [admissions_program_finder] shortcode works in any page or post. The WPBakery element is an optional convenience.

How do I reset everything to the defaults?

On the Admissions settings screen, use Restore defaults. This rebuilds the decision table and settings (it does not delete your pages).

Which analytics events are sent?

program_finder_step1 (gender chosen), program_finder_step2 (grade chosen), program_finder_result (a card was shown), and program_finder_cta_click (a CTA was clicked). Each carries the relevant gender, grade, and href data and is sent via dataLayer, gtag, and a admissions:<event> DOM CustomEvent.

Screenshots

1. The two-step finder: choose gender, then grade/age.
2. A result card with featured image, program title, badge, and note.
3. The CMS decision table where each gender + grade range maps to a page.

Changelog

1.1.0

• New: result card enriched with the destination page's featured image, plus an optional per-rule Label (badge) and Note.
• New: friendly "no program available" card (with contact CTA) whenever a rule has no page assigned — used for valid no-program ranges.
• New: keyboard focus moves to step 2 after the gender is selected.
• Change: default girls rules split into Middle School (6–8) and High School (9–12) to reflect the Delaware High School campus; seeded badges and notes.
• Change: URL pre-selection no longer fires analytics events.
• Fix: HTML entities in page titles/excerpts (e.g. ’) are no longer double-encoded on the result card.
• Remove: dropped the unused "Programs" custom post type — the decision table is page-based.

1.0.0

• Initial release.

Upgrade Notice

1.1.0

Richer result cards (image, badge, note), a friendlier no-program state, and a fix for double-encoded characters in titles. After updating, purge any page/JS cache so the new front-end assets are served.