the four levels of learning evaluation

Donald L Kirkpatrick, Professor Emeritus, University Of Wisconsin (where he achieved his BBA, MBA and PhD), first published his ideas in 1959, in a series of articles in the US Training and Development Journal. The articles were subsequently included in Kirkpatrick's book Evaluating Training Programs (1975 and since revised), published by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), for whom Kirkpatrick previously served as president and with whom he maintained strong connections. Donald Kirkpatrick has written several other significant books about training and evaluation, more recently with his similarly inclined son James, and has consulted with some of the world's largest corporations.

Donald Kirkpatrick's 1975 book Evaluating Training Programs defined his originally published ideas of 1959, thereby further increasing awareness of them, so that his theory has now become arguably the most widely used and popular model for the evaluation of training and learning. Kirkpatrick's four-level model is now considered an industry standard across the HR and training communities. The four levels of training evaluation model was later redefined and updated in Kirkpatrick's 1998 book, called 'Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels'.

The four levels of Kirkpatrick's evaluation model essentially measure:

* reaction of student - what they thought and felt about the training
* learning - the resulting increase in knowledge or capability
* behaviour - extent of behaviour and capability improvement and implementation/application
* results - the effects on the business or environment resulting from the trainee's performance

All these measures are recommended for full and meaningful evaluation of learning in organizations, although their application broadly increases in complexity, and usually cost, through the levels from level 1-4.