This paper and the one that follows report on how two teachers make judgements of primary students' writing. The evidence base used by the teachers in their judgements is analysed using qualitative techniques for mapping the inter-relationships among the various facets of students' performance, behaviours and attitudes. This approach makes it possible to examine and directly gauge the impact of evaluative frameworks that constitute the official, publicly available account of assessment as well as the contribution of otherwise implicit but nonetheless significant determinants of teachers' judgements as having local, point-in-time relevance for teaching and learning.