REF-TERM-002: User Vocabulary

Reference Number	Version	Effective Date	Supersedes	Authority Level
REF-TERM-002	1.2	2026-10-14	1.1	Informative

I. Purpose

Define the recommended user-facing vocabulary for the Classroom Token Hub (Informative; see §III). These are the terms that appear in teacher and student interfaces, user guides, help text, and support communications.

II. Scope

This glossary covers terms that teachers or students encounter during normal use. Each term carries a plain-language definition suitable for non-technical audiences. Implementation details, internal table names, and developer-only concepts belong in REF-TERM-001.

Terms that also appear in REF-TERM-001 carry their user-facing definition here and their implementation-facing definition there.

III. Authority Level

Informative, and highly recommended for standardization. User-interface text, help copy, user guides and support communications should use these terms as defined here, so that teachers and students meet one word for one concept everywhere.

Accessibility takes precedence. Where following a term here would create an unnecessary barrier, use the wording that is perceivable and understandable to the intended users, and propose a revision to this glossary. Examples of barriers are wording that is harder to understand, a label that does not name its control, and a term a screen reader announces ambiguously. The governing documents are INV-CORE-000 §III.7 (No Unnecessary Barriers to Supported Use, which covers wording) and INV-ARC-020 (Accessibility Requirements and Template Contract).

Developer-facing vocabulary is governed separately and normatively by REF-TERM-001.

III-A. Dependencies

• REF-TERM-001_DEVELOPER_VOCABULARY.md (developer-facing counterpart; normative)
• docs/INVARIANT/CORE/INV-CORE-000_CORE_INVARIANTS.md §III.7
• docs/INVARIANT/ARCHITECTURE/INV-ARC-020_ACCESSIBILITY_REQUIREMENTS_AND_TEMPLATE_CONTRACT.md

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IV. Glossary

Economy & Policy

Classroom Token Hub The name of this classroom economy platform.

Classroom Wage Index (CWI) The expected weekly income a student earns for perfect attendance. All prices, savings goals, and economic recommendations are measured against this number.

Policy Mode The overall economic climate of a class, selected by the teacher. There are three modes:

• Comfortable — Lower pressure, faster savings growth, more room for mistakes.
• Default — Balanced middle ground; the recommended starting point.
• Tight — Higher pressure, slower savings growth, more economic challenge.

Economy Health A teacher-facing dashboard that shows whether current class settings (wages, rent, prices) are aligned with the selected policy mode and whether the economy is sustainable.

Budget Survival Test A check that asks: can students still save a minimum amount each week after paying all recurring costs? If not, the economy may need rebalancing.

Catastrophe Stability Rule A check that asks: can a student recover within about one week from two unexpected costs (like fines or lost items)?

Money & Balances

Checking Balance The amount of money a student can spend right now.

Savings Balance Money a student has set aside in savings. May earn interest depending on class banking settings.

Spendable Balance The total amount available for purchases or transfers — equivalent to checking balance in most contexts.

Accrued Interest Interest that has been earned on savings but not yet added to the spendable savings balance. It will be posted at the next payout.

Accrual Frequency How often savings interest is earned — daily, weekly, or monthly, as set by the teacher.

Compound Frequency How often previously earned interest starts earning its own interest.

Interest Payout When accrued interest is officially added to a student’s savings balance so it can be spent or continue earning.

Attendance

Attendance Session A record of when a student tapped in and tapped out of class. Used to calculate daily earnings.

Class Day The school day as defined by the class timezone — midnight to midnight. Daily limits and attendance windows are measured within this boundary.

Tap Enabled Whether a student is currently allowed to tap in for attendance. A teacher can disable this without erasing prior attendance history.

Done for Day A per-student daily lock that prevents further attendance taps after the student has completed their session for the day.

Class & Identity

Class An individual classroom economy. Each class has its own join code, settings, students, and financial records. A teacher may run multiple classes; a student may belong to multiple classes.

Join Code The short code students use to find and join a class. It is the public-facing identifier for a class (distinct from the class display name); internally, the system uses a private class ID.

Section A label for the class period — for example, “Block A” or “Period 3.” Used for display only; it does not affect how the system scopes data.

Seat A student’s or teacher’s position within a specific class. Everything a student does in a class — earning, spending, attendance — is attached to their seat in that class.

Student Seat A seat held by a student. The student earns, spends, and participates through this seat.

Teacher Seat A seat held by the teacher. The teacher manages the class through this seat.

Store & Goals

Store Item A product, privilege, or reward available for purchase in the class store. Teachers set the price and availability.

Collective Goal A shared class savings objective. All participating students contribute toward a common target, encouraging teamwork.

Redemption Prompt Instructions attached to a store item that tell the teacher how to fulfill the purchase when a student redeems it.

Hall Passes

Hall Pass A time-tracked pass that allows a student to leave the classroom. Passes can be requested, approved, and timed through the system.

Queue When enabled, students request hall passes and wait in line rather than receiving them immediately. The teacher controls queue settings and simultaneous limits.

Rent & Obligations

Rent A recurring cost that students pay at regular intervals — for example, weekly desk rent. Rent can include linked benefits like hall passes.

Obligation A scheduled financial responsibility assigned to a student, such as rent or an assessment. The system tracks whether each obligation is due, paid, overdue, or waived.

Waiver A teacher action that marks an obligation as satisfied without requiring payment.

Recovery & Security

Reset Code A short code shown to the teacher that a student can use to recover access to their account without affecting their class balance or history.

Passkey A modern, passwordless way for teachers to log in using biometrics or a security key instead of a password.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) An extra security step required for teacher accounts. After entering a password, the teacher must also enter a time-based code from an authenticator app.

Policy Changes

Activation Intent When a teacher changes an economy setting, this controls when the change takes effect: immediately, at the start of the next period, or manually at a chosen time.

Future Economic Law A pending change to class settings that has been announced but hasn’t taken effect yet. Students and teachers can see what will change and when.

Analytics

Money Velocity A measure of how quickly money circulates through the classroom economy. High velocity means money is being earned and spent actively; low velocity may indicate stagnation.

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V. Terms Not Used in User-Facing Contexts

The following terms from the developer vocabulary (REF-TERM-001) do not appear in user interfaces and should not be used in student- or teacher-facing text:

class_id, seat_id, correlation_id, idempotency_key, FEAT, domain guard, ledger_transaction, audit_log, append-only policy evolution, domain blindness, operational events, TemporalContext.

(policy_versions and policy_transitions were retired outright by operator ruling 2026-09-30 — REF-TERM-001 §IV — and are not merely internal developer terms; do not use either even in developer-facing text.)

If user-facing text needs to refer to the concept behind one of these terms, use the corresponding plain-language term from this glossary instead.

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VI. Revision History

Version	Date	Author	Changes
1.0	2026-06-15	Terminology Audit	Initial creation from TERMINOLOGY_AUDIT_V1.md governance classification. Covers all user-facing terms from the 82-term KEEP set plus plain-language definitions for merged concepts.
1.1	2026-09-28	Operator ruling	Authority changed from Normative to Informative, highly recommended for standardization. Accessibility (INV-CORE-000 §III.7, INV-ARC-020) takes precedence over any term here.