Free Resource · 8 pages · PDF

Recommendation Evidence Toolkit

Turn observations into evidence.

A recommendation does not need more adjectives. It needs a clearer basis for the judgment. This toolkit helps teachers, school counselors, and the students they support collect a few meaningful leads, choose what can be supported, and explain what those observations reveal.

There is no need to assemble a student biography—or invent an extraordinary story.

Three resources. Three distinct jobs.

Resource	Completed by	Its job
Student Reflection Form	Student	Recall specific moments and relevant context—not write the recommendation.
Teacher Evidence Sheet	Teacher	Organize two observations around what happened, what they reveal, and what changed.
Counselor Context Sheet	Counselor or designated school official	Explain the circumstances needed to interpret the student’s record, with sources and disclosure boundaries.

Also included: a teacher guide and counselor guide with worked examples, a school implementation guide, and source notes that link to official guidance from MIT Admissions, Yale Undergraduate Admissions, and Common App.

First page of the Recommendation Evidence Toolkit

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Student: complete the one-page reflection form for the educator receiving it.
Teacher: use the reflection as a memory aid, check it against firsthand knowledge, and complete the evidence sheet.
Counselor: separate verified facts, student-reported information, and interpretation.
Writer: select what genuinely adds understanding. The worksheet is a planning tool, not a script to copy.

Use and adaptation: Dream Seekers Academy permits schools to share and adapt its original worksheet content for educational use with attribution. Use your school’s approved process for requesting and submitting recommendations; these resources supplement that process. No university, admissions association, or application platform named in the toolkit has endorsed it.