Gathering Evidence

In preparation for the formative and summative evaluations every educator will need to gather evidence of proficiency against the rubric and progress towards the student learning and professional practice goal. The documents below will be useful in the evidence you submit to your supervising evaluator.

The artifact cover page will accompany the artifacts that you submit. Artifacts are individual items that you will submit (some examples are on the Ed Eval Forms page). This could include an annotated lesson plan, a series of emails, results from a formative assessment, or student work samples.

Evidence is a collection of artifacts that come together to tell the story of your proficiency. For example, evidence could include proof of attendance at a professional development workshop on differentiation, a one page written reflection of that PD experience, and an amended lesson plan (annotated) that was updated to reflect what was learned at the professional development workshop.

From DESE: The collection of artifacts is an opportunity to select a sample of artifacts and other data that well represents your performance and impact. It is not intended to be a record of all that you have done in a year. It should be focused on your goals, high priority Standards and Indicators, and any critical school priorities not addressed by the professional practice and student learning goals.

 When developing your educator plan, make notes about what kinds of evidence will demonstrate progress toward your goal. Consider ahead of time which artifacts you might want to collect and submit. This will help you to plan what you will need throughout the year. Check with your evaluator to ensure that the types of evidence you anticipate collecting are aligned to his/her expectations.

 Combine multiple pieces of evidence to “tell a story” about your practice. For example, a lesson plan, results from a formative assessment, student work samples, and a second lesson plan could demonstrate how you adjusted practice based on student data.

 Focus on going from “evidence to rubric,” not “rubric to evidence.” Rather than searching for a piece of evidence to demonstrate your performance on a particular part of the rubric, first select pieces of evidence that are highly representative of your practice, then identify the Standard(s), Indicator(s), and/or element(s) to which they connect. Many artifacts demonstrate your performance on multiple parts of a rubric. Remember that we are focusing on the highlighted areas of the rubric if we are in our first two years in the district and others are exploring the entire rubric by identifying 10-12 new areas.

 Evidence should be artifacts of the work you’re already doing. Your daily work is the best representation of your practice. You know best what exemplifies your practices in areas such as planning, use of data, professional learning, and your work with students, colleagues, and parents.

 Create a folder (electronic or paper) to add evidence throughout the year. The collection of evidence should be an ongoing process. When you are preparing to submit evidence to your evaluator for your formative assessment or summative evaluation, you may want to go through your folder and select a subset of artifacts to share with your evaluator that are a representative picture of your practice and performance. Directions on how to create a simple electronic folder using google sites and google drive, check out the portfolio template.