Few segments of any industry come with an author’s name attached to its core principles, however walk into the office of anyone whose job duties include training their employees and ask them about “The Four Levels”. They will know immediately that you are speaking about the Kirkpatrick Model, developed by Donald Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick is Professor Emeritus of the University of Wisconsin and a widely respected teacher, author, and consultant. Although he is known mostly for his seminal work Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels (Berrett-Koehler Publishers), he has also authored books on Managing Change, Performance Improvement, Developing Supervisors and Leaders, Planning Meetings, and more.  His works Managing Change Effectively, and Improving Employee Performance Through Appraisal and Coaching were both awards winners with SHRM, the country’s largest association of HR professional.

In 1997 Kirkpatrick was inducted into the prestigious Training Magazine Hall of Fame and in  2004 He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in Workplace Development by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).