Method of Measuring

You can select from a variety of methods to measure the success of your WEP.  To find ideas on established measurement methods, consider looking at the effective basic skills training programs and methods used by companies that apply to Award programs or that participate in studies done by various research organizations.

Examine the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards, the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) or American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and others to find nationally-recognized winners of quality awards and finely-tuned measurement methodologies and practices.

Explore myths associated with topics in adult, career, and vocational education and learn about commonly held assumptions that are taken for granted but that are not accurate.    
     URL: http://www.ericacve.org/mr.asp

This report reviews evaluation methods and suggests applications for adult education practitioners.  Planning and conducting effective educational programs for adults entail contributions by various stakeholders including participants, instructors, funders, etc.
     URL: http://www.ericacve.org/majorpubs2.asp?ID=14

The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award is the centerpiece of the Baldridge National Quality Program. This award, which since 1988 has been presented annually by the President to recognize performance excellence, focuses on an organization's overall performance management system.
   URL: http://www.quality.nist.gov/

The American Productivity and Quality Centre website has Case Studies with Executive Summaries dealing with performance measurement, as well as a listing of resources for the area of corporate performance measures.
    URL: http://www.apqc.org/search/dispRelatedItems.cfm?ProductType=Free&ProductID=1255

The Benchmarking Service of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) provides a free Measurement Kit to organizations to measure training investments, practices and outcomes.
    URL: http://www.astd.org/virtual_community/research/measure/measurement_kit_main.html

An organizational Self-Assessment guide by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) includes an Employee Education, Training and Development section in the Human Resource Development and Management Workbook for assessing workplace education programs and their impact on employee jobs.
    URL: http://www.workforce-excellence.net/html/product2.htm

MassExcellence provides support services to organizations who want to enhance the performance of their management systems.  Program faculty include nationally recognized Baldridge experts, professional practitioners and facilitators, and leading performance excellence consultants.
    URL: www.massexcellence.com

Penn State University's Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy acts as an external evaluator for a number of workplace literacy programs in Pennsylvania.  Evaluations include site visits, assisting in design of data collection instruments, reviewing program documentation to determine program effectiveness, and producing an summary report.
   URL: http://www.ed.psu.edu/isal/index.html

American Institutes for Research provide the adult education community with large-scale literacy assessment and support the evaluation of adult education programs and of professional development for adult educators.
     URL: http://www.air.org/program_areas/adultlit/adultlit-set.htm

Employers can use this sample evaluation form to evaluate the effectiveness of their worker mentoring program.
     URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/23/12/46.php

This article on Skills Gaps discusses how to fit training to the specific needs of the individual employee.
    URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/22/16/72/223541.php

This Training Evaluation Form can be used by employees to evaluate the effectiveness of training they have taken part in and of their instructors. Training participant feedback can be a useful measure of training success.
     URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/22/13/37.php

These planning questions will help employers sort out the nuts and bolts of the value of training. The questions, such as who needs training and how training will be assessed, include examples.
     URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/22/17/10/223931.php

Calculating the ROI of training is sometimes simple, sometimes subjective and sometimes not worth the effort. Start by looking at the productivity effect, but in more complicated scenarios, the best approach may be to focus on value and results, rather than numbers.
    URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/22/17/10/index.php

This report on the importance of learners' perspectives on the outcomes of adult basic education stresses the importance of access to and participation in training. It also provides a how–to guide for measuring performance and outcomes. (69 KB)
     URL: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/%7Encsall/research/op_bingman.pdf

Employers can ask the following questions of managers, supervisors and HR professionals to assess employees’ skill levels and the impact of skill shortages on the workplace.
    URL: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/22/17/40/224015.php

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was established by the U.S. Department of Education 's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to provide educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education.
     URL: http://www.whatworks.ed.gov/

Key Survey provides a survey software tool that makes it easy to create a employee skill assessment online. Employers can make use of pre-existing survey templates or create their own employee skill assessment with this survey tool.
     URL: http://www.keysurvey.com/employee_skill_assessment.html

The Business Value Assessment toolkit helps practitioners and their employer partners assess the business value of their workforce services. Developed in manufacturing and health care workplaces, the Business Value Assessment toolkit is adaptable and can be applied to a variety of workforce development services, settings and industries.
     URL: http://www.aspenwsi.org/BVAToolkit.asp

2GC is a specialist consultancy focused on improving organizational strategic management, strategic control and performance measurement. 2CG consultants are thought-leaders and expert practitioners, delivering improvements to clients using a range of tools and techniques including the 3rd Generation Balanced Scorecard.  
     URL: www.2gc.co.uk

CareerOneStop's competency models offer advice and tools on developing competency-based curriculum, skill-based job descriptions, emerging industry skill needs and career exploration and guidance.
     URL: http://www.careeronestop.org/competencymodel/

This article shows how to balance short-term profit with long-term investment in human capital (Benefits & Compensation Digest). Due to socioeconomic shifts including an impending demographic meltdown and a fall in U.S. workforce productivity, it is increasingly important to measure the effectiveness of every human capital development effort through calculating its return on investment (ROI).
     URL: http://www.imperialcorp.com/whatsnew.html

Route 21 provide an online interactive tool that demonstrates how 21st century skills can be supported through standards, professional development, assessments and curriculum and instruction.
    URL: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/

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Last updated: May 30, 2008.