Kirkpatrick's level three evaluation applied to a maintenance apprenticeship training program

As American business and industry prepare to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, units within organizations will come under ever-increasing scrutiny to demonstrate their value to the parent organization. Training and human resource development departments will be under increased pressure to direct their efforts toward meeting the goals, objectives, or desired outcomes of their parent organizations. Professionals in the human resource development field will be expected to provide managers and other decision makers with data to assist in the decision-making process concerning human resource development programs. The purposes of this study were to measure the effectiveness of a maintenance apprenticeship training program and provide feedback to training designers for program improvement. Products of the study included a model to evaluate other technical training programs and data for management to use in the decision-making process related to technical training programs. The objectives of this study were to determine if job performance, on a broad basis, was positively impacted by a maintenance apprenticeship training program and identify specific modifications and/or improvements which could be made to the apprenticeship training program. Data obtained and analyzed by the researcher were shared with management and other decision makers to assist in the decision-making process for the selected apprenticeship training program.