Level 1 evaluations are a ubiquitous part of the workplace learning and performance landscape. If used properly and designed well, they play a critical role in ensuring that learning programs are "on track" to achieve key business objectives. Yet, despite their widespread use and critical role, many questions remain regarding the true core purpose of Level 1 evaluations and the validity of the results they obtain. For example, Level 1 evaluations often are used to prove something--the effectiveness of the trainer, business outcomes, whether learning took place and program effectiveness--when their true core purpose is simply to gather data to improve a learning program. In addition, a number of common mistakes often are made in developing Level 1 evaluation forms that result in the collection of data that is hard to interpret, questionable, or invalid--where the good things about your learning program get rated low and the things in need of improvement get rated high. In this session, you will analyze the true core purpose of Level 1 evaluations (what they should and should not be used for); assess several common mistakes made in creating Level 1 evaluation forms; and examine six techniques that can be used to eliminate those mistakes and develop valid Level 1 evaluation forms.