Workforce training is needed throughout the construction industry to create and maintain competent workers; unfortunately, most construction training and education research focuses on university student education. Integrating education science theory into construction training has the potential to improve industry training, but the status of this integration has not been well articulated. To address this gap, this article undertakes a state-of-the-art review of education theory–integrated construction training for current industry professionals. To measure the extent of educational theory integration, this article identifies and summarizes studies that meet inclusion criteria, identifies the frequency of occurrence of Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs as a measure of student learning outcomes, and identifies and compares commonly used words within the identified construction training literature and foundational educational theory literature. This article presents a systematic review of published construction workforce training studies that have incorporated educational theory in the design and implementation of the training. The results reveal that, of the 15 construction training studies that met the inclusion criteria, two-thirds (2/3) focused on worker safety and only three studies (20%) targeted managers or designers. Fewer than 35% of terms that were identified as frequently used terms in the published construction training studies were categorized as educational. The results of this study provide a baseline of education theory–integrated construction training research, from which gaps and best practices can be identified and implemented to improve construction industry training.

The construction industry suffers from a lack of structured assessment methods to consistently gauge the efficacy of workforce training programs. To address this issue, this study presents a framework for construction industry training assessment that identifies established practices rooted in evaluation science and developed from a review of archival construction industry training literature. Inclusion criteria for the evaluated studies are: archival training studies focused on the construction industry workforce and integration of educational theory in training creation or implementation. Literature meeting these criteria are summarized and a case review is presented detailing assessment practices and results. The assessment practices are then synthesized with the Kirkpatrick Model to analyze how closely industry assessment corresponds with established training evaluation standards. The study culminates in a training assessment framework created by integrating practices described in the identified studies, established survey writing practices, and the Kirkpatrick Model. This study found that two-thirds of reviewed literature used surveys, questionnaires, or interviews to assess training efficacy, two studies that used questionnaires to assess training efficacy provided question text, three studies measured learning by administering tests to training participants, one study measured changed behavior as a result of training, and one study measured organizational impact as a result of training.

The construction industry is suffering, in part, from a lack of training programs offered to the construction workforce. Unfortunately, most construction training and education research focuses on university student education. Integrating education science theory into construction workforce training has the potential to improve industry training but there is a dearth of studies that present details of this integration process. To address this gap, a training framework was developed to educate material stakeholders on material properties, selection, and installation. This framework is based on andragogical and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. An assessment method evaluates training agendas to improve upon instructional design before training implementation. This method assesses the proposed training framework by enumerating the occurrences of Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs to determine how closely the proposed training’s goals and objectives followed Bloom’s guidelines. This study culminates by establishing linkages from educational theory to proposed training modules. The module template is presented in a goals and objectives format so that organizations can best implement and test this training framework.

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