The Four Levels of Evaluation

Abstract

The reason I developed this four-level model was to clarify the elusive term evaluation. Some training and development professionals believe that evaluation means measuring changes in behavior that occur as a result of training programs. Others maintain that the only real evaluation lies in determining what final results occurred because of training programs. Still others think only in terms of the comment sheets that participants complete at the end of a program. Others are concerned with the learning that takes place in the classroom, as measured by increased knowledge, improved skills, and changes in attitude. And they are all right—and yet wrong, in that they fail to recognize that all four approaches are parts of what we mean by evaluating.