Evaluation of Input vs. Output

First of all, I can count the total hours of sleep I have had over the last three nights on one hand.  Pardon me if I ramble.

I have been struggling with report cards for term 2 because I feel like I have a lack of "concrete" marks in a couple of subject areas.  I could not think why my marks seemed so thin.  Then it occurred to me that I was planning my evaluation wrong.

It seems to me that assigning a numeric value to the analyzing, mapping, and evaluating that students to during the beginning phases of a project is harder to assess than the final product.  We know good output; what does a summative evaluation of input look like?  I think graphic organizers are part of the answer.