Review and evidence

Review decisions record who decided, which revision of the request they reviewed, whether they approved, rejected or returned it, when and why. They are kept as their own records, so the history of an observation shows each review in order rather than only the final state.

Evidence files sit on the request: observation forms, lesson plans, student work samples, video references. Each file has a title, an evidence type, who uploaded it and when, and whether it is internal or can be shared with the school. Submission of an observation review is checked against these files, so the reviewer always sees what the score was based on.

Observers upload evidence; instructional reviewers decide.

• Decision with revision. Each decision names the revision reviewed.
• Evidence on the request. Files are kept with the request they support.
• Shareable or internal. Evidence can be shared with the school or kept internal.

Agree what evidence each observation needs, how long it is kept and what may be shared with the teacher or school. Agree how quickly reviews should be decided. Prepare examples of an approval, a return for missing evidence and a rejection.

At the end of the year a teacher asks to see the basis for their observation scores. The coordinator opens the requests and finds each approved review, the reviewer’s decisions and reasons, and the evidence marked shareable. The teacher gets the observation forms and plans; internal coaching notes stay internal.

The same records answer a principal’s question about how consistently observations were reviewed across the year. Every decision names its reviewer and reason, so the pattern is visible without anyone reconstructing it from email.

If a decision has to be corrected, the correction is recorded as its own reviewed action, so the original decision and the reason for changing it are both kept.

• Review decision log — Approvals, rejections and returns with reasons.
• Shared evidence — Files marked shareable with the school.

• Observation review approval: Where decisions are made.

See roles.