Evaluating Training Programs

An updated edition of the bestselling classic Donald Kirkpatrick is a true legend in the training field: he is a past president of ASTD, a member of Training magazine's "HRD Hall of Fame," and the recipient of the 2003 "Lifetime Achievement Award in Workplace Learning and Performance" from ASTD In 1959 Donald Kirkpatrick developed a four-level model for evaluating training programs. Since then, the "Kirkpatrick Model" has become the most widely used approach to training evaluation in the corporate, government, and academic worlds. Evaluating Training Programs provided the first comprehensive guide to Kirkpatrick's Four Level Model, along with detailed case studies of how the model is being used successfully in a wide range of programs and institutions. This new edition includes revisions and updates of the existing material plus new case studies that show the four-level model in action. Going beyond just using simple reaction questionnaires to rate training programs, Kirkpatrick's model focuses on four areas for a more comprehensive approach to evaluation: Evaluating Reaction, Evaluating Learning, Evaluating Behavior, and Evaluating Results. Evaluating Training Programs is a how-to book, designed for practitiners in the training field who plan, implement, and evaluate training programs. The author supplements principles and guidelines with numerous sample survey forms for each step of the process. For those who have planned and conducted many programs, as well as those who are new to the training and development field, this book is a handy reference guide that provides a practical and proven model for increasing training effectiveness through evaluation. In the third edition of this classic bestseller, Kirkpatrick offers new forms and procedures for evaluating at all levels and several additional chapters about using balanced scorecards and "Managing Change Effectively." He also includes twelve new case studies from organizations that have been evaluated using one or more of the four levels--Caterpillar, Defense Acquisition University, Microsoft, IBM, Toyota, Nextel, The Regence Group, Denison University, and Pollack Learning Alliance.

Leaders want to see changes in behavior as a result of what people have learned and may expect these new behaviors to deliver results for the business. With the third edition of this book, readers have an opportunity to update their understanding of this classic evaluation framework and to learn from the case studies about how to effectively apply the framework to a variety of learning programs. Readers are presented with the tools and the know-how to tell their own story of value creation.---Foreword by Merrill C. Anderson, Ph.D, Chief Executive Officer, MetrixGlobal, LLC.

Donald L. Kirkpatrick presents a system for evaluating the effectiveness of a training program. The system assesses four types of information: the reactions of the participants, the learning they achieved, changes in their behavior, and the final business results (such as increased production, improved quality, decreased costs, or higher profits). This solid, organized approach to evaluation includes guidelines, sample questionnaires, charts and formulas, as well as case studies of companies using this approach. However, because it is fairly dry and technical, this book primarily will interest those who run or rely upon training programs. The summaries of the first chapters - covering the evaluation system - can provide managers and executives with a general idea of this approach and the research involved. But getabstract particularly recommends this book to those leading training programs, because they can use its specific material as a reference when undertaking evaluations.

This book details a unique training evaluation approach developed by David J. Basarab, Sr. currently the Manager of Evaluation at Motorola University. This approach was developed in part based on information from his graduate coursework with Dr. Darrell K. Root, professor of program evaluation and educational administration at the University of Dayton. It enabled Motorola to evaluate their corporate training programs to determine whether money spent on training was an investment or an expense. This evaluation approach is also significant in determining either the effectiveness of or the opportunities to improve corporate training programs. In this text, The Training Evaluation Process, David Basarab and Darrell Root provide commercial industry training with a step-by-step approach to use when evaluating training progrruns, thus allowing training to be viewed as an investment rather than an expense. This text focuses on assessing training programs, so that they may be improved. This approach provides a successful procedure to use when evaluating training programs. Included in the text is a comprehensive explanation of the evaluation model developed by D. L. Kirkpatrick (Kirkpatrick, D. L., November 1959) in which he described four levels of evaluating training progrruns: Level 1 -Reaction: Evaluate to learn participants' perception to the training program. Level 2 -Learning: Evaluate to determine whether participants have learned the course subject matter. Level 3 -Behavior: Evaluate participants' use of newly acquired job skills on the job. Level 4 -Results: Evaluate the organizational impact of training on company's workforce.

A timely update to a timeless model. Don Kirkpatrick's groundbreaking Four Levels of Training Evaluation is the most widely used training evaluation model in the world. Ask any group of trainers whether they rely on the model's four levels Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results in their practice, and you'll get an enthusiastic affirmation. But how many variations of Kirkpatrick are in use today? And what number of misassumptions and faulty practices have crept in over 60 years? The reality is: Quite a few. James and Wendy Kirkpatrick have written Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation to set the record straight. Delve into James and Wendy's new findings that, together with Don Kirkpatrick's work, create the New World Kirkpatrick Model, a powerful training evaluation methodology that melds people with metrics. In Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation, discover a comprehensive blueprint for implementing the model in a way that truly maximizes your business's results. Using these innovative concepts, principles, techniques, and case studies, you can better train people, improve the way you work, and, ultimately, help your organization meet its most crucial goals.

In this indispensable companion to the classic book Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels, Donald and James Kirkpatrick draw on their decades of collective experience to offer practical guidance for putting any or all of the Four Levels into practice. In addition, they offer a comprehensive list of the ten requirements for an effective training program and show how to decide what to evaluate, how to get managers to support the evaluation process, and how to use the Four Levels to construct a compelling chain of evidence demonstrating the contribution of training to the bottom line.

"With the third edition of this book, readers have an opportunity to update their understanding of this classic evaluation framework and to learn from the case studies about how to effectively apply the framework to a variety of learning programs. Readers are presented with the tools and the know-how to tell their own story of value creation."--Page iii.