Once the organization has finished training and gathered all the data, the process of interpreting the evaluation data begins. Some information is received immediately after training, providing initial evaluations of levels 1 and 2, while other data may take longer to assess, as expected with some key strategic metrics. Once data are received, there is no benefit to sit on it and wait until all the data come in to analyze and make changes. By gathering and analyzing in a continuous fashion, the trainers can quickly assess and make changes based on the data.

When assessing level 2 learning, end-of-session knowledge and skill assessment will indicate the extent to which trainees learned the necessary level of skill to demonstrate mastery. If trainees did not learn as expected based on the learning objectives, the instructional design team must diagnose and make changes immediately while the feedback is fresh, rather than wait until implementation of the next training session.

Understanding the expectations and examining your results is the central part of training evaluation. It is important to ask yourself not only why the results don’t meet the standards, but also why and how they do meet the standards. Understanding why a training program was successful enables trainers to duplicate those results. Understanding why it was not successful enables trainers to learn from mistakes and improve training programs.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to training evaluation standards. Each standard set by the organization should consider factors such as industry norms, company strategy, and stage of intervention. Once an organization considers a variety of contextual factors that impact the expectations, internal benchmarks should be established with an eye toward continuous improvement.