In the wake of its post-9/11 reorganization, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) quickly recognized a strategic need within the Agency. While CBP management knew they wanted to improve training courses and curricula to boost employee job performance and align that performance better with the Agency’s mission, they needed a methodology to measure progress against their goals.
PTG provided a solution. Applying their working knowledge of the learning evaluation process as embodied in the Kirkpatrick 4-Level Model, PTG staff developed and implemented the CBP Training Evaluation and Measurement for Performance Optimization (TEMPO) System to measure the effectiveness of CBP’s training, evaluate specific classes and courses, and devise remedial actions to improve training delivery. In partnership with PTG since 2004, CBP training locations have provided Level 1 and Level 3 evaluation services that are designed to serve the needs of a widely distributed and multi-skilled organization requiring a rapid response to changing training needs. In addition, a special task was added to PTG’s contract to carry out a psychometric evaluation of the test-building process and to review the application of the Kirkpatrick levels across the CBP learning model.
CBP TEMPO, formerly called the National Training Evaluation Program (NTEP) System, like other PTG applications, provides multiple methods for course evaluation data collection. Whether delivered in paper surveys or online, the resulting data is securely stored, encrypted, and reported as required. For paper surveys, PTG provides comprehensive review, data entry, scanning, and transcription services to make the collected data available for comprehensive, sophisticated analysis. And, as CBP training professionals identify the need for additional surveys, those instruments are developed in TEMPO and delivered to course participants either through online entry or scannable hardcopy.
