Evidence Collections
In eVAL, each evaluation activity creates an evidence collection — a container that holds the evidence produced by that activity and controls who can see it and when.
The evidence collections are:
- Observation
- Artifact
- Self-Assessment
- Student Growth Goal Setting (SGGS) — the goal-setting conference and the goals themselves
- Student Growth Goal Achievement (SGGA) — the end-of-year growth results
- Summative Evaluation
Goal Setting and Goal Achievement are two separate evidence collections, each with its own evidence, workflow, and completion mode. An individual student growth goal isn't an evidence collection in its own right — goals live inside Goal Setting.
Summative Evaluation is mostly an aggregator. It creates very little evidence of its own — currently just coded responses to end-of-year prompts. Nearly everything in it is published evidence pulled in from the other collections: align evidence in an observation, artifact, or student growth collection, and it appears in the Summative once that collection is published.
Aggregated evidence appears in the Summative's Evidence View, labelled with the evidence collection it was created in — the Connected to field — so you can always trace a piece of evidence back to its source. See Unpackaged Evidence.
Self-Assessment is the exception. Its evidence and any self-scores stay within the Self-Assessment and never flow to the Summative, even after it's shared. It's a reflection tool, so it doesn't contribute to the final performance rating.
How Evidence Collections Work
Each evidence collection has:
- A type — determined by the activity that created it
- A scope — which rubric criteria and components the evidence can be aligned to, based on the evaluatee's plan type
- A workflow — rules for how the collection moves from draft to final, who can edit, and when it becomes visible to others
See How Workflows Work for the detailed lifecycle of each type.
Tabs and Visibility
Most evidence collections have multiple tabs. Some tabs are visible to both parties from the start, while others are initially visible only to the evaluator and can be shared later.
Common Pattern
| Tab Type | Visible To | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Setup / Configuration | Both parties | Often read-only for one party |
| Content tabs (prompts, responses, goals) | Both parties | Each party sees their own view/data |
| Evidence View | Evaluator only until shared | Where evidence is reviewed, packaged, and scored |
| Report | Evaluator only until shared | Shows the evolving report with scores |
The evaluator can choose to share the Evidence View and Report tabs at any time before submission. Once the evidence collection is submitted, these tabs become visible automatically.
Why This Matters
The Evidence View and Report tabs are where scoring happens. Keeping them private until shared allows the evaluator to work on scoring without the evaluatee seeing incomplete or draft scores. When ready, the evaluator either:
- Shares early — Makes the tabs visible before submission
- Submits — Tabs become visible automatically as part of submission
Student Growth Exception
Student Growth Goal Setting is evaluatee-initiated. The evaluatee creates goals first and has the option to share their Goal Setting screen with the evaluator before submission. The evaluator still has private Evidence View and Report tabs that follow the same sharing pattern.
When Evidence Is Published
While an evidence collection is being worked on, its evidence stays within that collection. Once the collection is submitted, its evidence is published — it leaves the collection and flows into the Summative Evidence View, the end-of-year view filtered to the evaluatee's plan type scope.
"Published" is the term used throughout eVAL for evidence that has become visible beyond the collection it was created in.
| Evidence Collection | Submitted When... | Evidence Then Visible In |
|---|---|---|
| Observation | Evaluator submits — archived/locked | Summative |
| Student Growth — Goal Setting and Goal Achievement | Evaluator submits — archived/locked | Summative |
| Artifact | Creator shares | Summative |
| Self-Assessment | Evaluatee shares | Shared with evaluator only (not Summative) |
Embedded Artifacts
Some evidence collections allow you to attach artifacts directly within them (embedded artifacts). Unlike global artifacts, embedded artifacts must be shared before the containing evidence collection is submitted — otherwise they won't be included in the published evidence.
When submitting an evidence collection, you'll see a warning if any embedded artifacts haven't been shared yet.
:::info Why Can't I See Evidence? The Summative only aggregates evidence from collections that have been published. If evidence you expect isn't showing there, the source evidence collection likely hasn't been submitted yet — check the workflow state of the source activity. :::
How Evidence Is Organized
Evidence is always aligned to a specific rubric component, and when you package evidence you can align it more precisely still — to specific rubric text within a performance level descriptor.
That alignment structure is what lets the Summative aggregate evidence from many different collections and show it organized by rubric component. See Navigating the Rubric for how the rubric is presented, including the State and Instructional framework views.
Related Topics
- The Evaluation Year — Evidence activities, timeline, and summative scoring
- How Workflows Work — Lifecycle of each evidence collection type
- Evidence View — Where evidence is reviewed, packaged, and scored
- Working with Artifacts — Creating and sharing artifact evidence