Creating and Managing Form Sets

Form sets are the primary evaluation instruments used for classroom observations and performance reviews in PD Edge. As a system administrator, you can create, configure, and manage these instruments to support your district's professional development needs.

Prerequisites

Before creating form sets, ensure you have:

• System administrator role
• Active Observe license
• Publishing enabled for your tenant (can_publish)

Creating a New Form Set

1. Navigate to System Admin → Observe → Form Sets
2. Click Add Form Set
3. Configure the form set properties:
   • Name: Enter a descriptive name for your evaluation instrument
   • Type: Select either "Observation" or "Performance Review"
   • Active: Check to make the form set available for use
   • Display Order: Enter a number to control sorting priority
4. Click Save

The system automatically assigns the form set to your tenant when created.

Form Set Properties

Each form set has configurable properties that control its behavior:

Adding Forms to Form Sets

Form sets contain one or more individual forms that make up the complete evaluation instrument.

Attaching Existing Forms

1. Open your form set detail page
2. Navigate to the Forms section
3. Click Add Form
4. Select an existing form from the dropdown
5. Configure form settings:
   • Display Order: Position within the form set
   • Weight: Contribution to overall scoring (if using weighted scoring)
6. Click Save

Creating New Forms

If you need to create a new form while building your form set:

1. From the form set detail page, click Add Form
2. Select Create New Form (if available)
3. Enter the form name and properties
4. Add sections and questions to the form
5. Return to the form set to configure weights and display order

Setting Form Weights and Display Order

When your form set contains multiple forms, you can control their relative importance and presentation order.

Configuring Weights

1. Navigate to your form set
2. Go to the Weighted Values section
3. Adjust the weight for each form:
   • Higher weights contribute more to the overall score
   • Weights are relative to each other
   • Leave blank for equal weighting
4. Save your changes

Setting Display Order

Forms appear in your form set based on their display order:

1. In the form set detail view, locate each form's Display Order field
2. Enter numbers to control sequence (1, 2, 3, etc.)
3. Forms with lower numbers appear first
4. Save changes

Configuring Organization Visibility

Control which schools and departments can access your form set for evaluations.

Setting Organization Access

1. Open the form set detail page
2. Navigate to the Organizations tab
3. Select the organizations that should have access:
   • Check boxes for specific schools
   • Select district-level organizations for broader access
   • Leave unchecked to restrict access
4. Click Save

Note: Only users in selected organizations will see this form set when creating new observations or performance reviews.

Activating and Deactivating Form Sets

Activating a Form Set

To make a form set available for use:

1. Edit the form set
2. Check the Active checkbox
3. Save changes

Active form sets appear in dropdown menus when users create evaluations.

Deactivating a Form Set

To remove a form set from active use:

1. Edit the form set
2. Uncheck the Active checkbox
3. Save changes

Important: Deactivating a form set only prevents new evaluations from using it. Existing observations and performance reviews using this form set remain unchanged.

Form Set Types

Observation Form Sets

Use observation form sets for:

• Classroom walkthroughs
• Formal observations
• Peer observations
• Instructional coaching sessions

Observation form sets appear when users navigate to Observe → New Observation.

Performance Review Form Sets

Use performance review form sets for:

• Annual evaluations
• Mid-year reviews
• Goal-setting sessions
• Professional growth planning

Performance review form sets appear when users navigate to Observe → New Performance Review.

Best Practices

Naming Conventions

Use clear, descriptive names that indicate:

• Purpose (e.g., "Classroom Observation Rubric")
• Audience (e.g., "New Teacher Evaluation")
• Frequency (e.g., "Annual Performance Review")

Organization Access

Consider your district's evaluation workflow when setting visibility:

• District-wide: Select the top-level organization
• School-specific: Select individual schools
• Department-specific: Select department organizations

Form Weights

When using multiple forms in a set:

• Weight core instructional forms more heavily
• Give supplementary forms (demographics, etc.) lower weights
• Document your weighting rationale for evaluators

Managing Existing Form Sets

Editing Form Sets

1. Navigate to System Admin → Observe → Form Sets
2. Click the form set name to open details
3. Make your changes to properties, forms, or organization access
4. Save changes

Viewing Form Set Usage

Check the form set detail page to see:

• Number of completed evaluations
• Associated organizations
• Linked forms and their weights

Archiving Unused Form Sets

For form sets no longer in use:

1. Set Active to false to prevent new usage
2. Keep the form set for historical reporting purposes
3. Update the name to indicate archived status if needed