Enlisted Professional Military Education Curriculum Validation Project

Three separate survey booklets were administered to separate random samples of enlisted personnel in all paygrades and career fields between November 1978 and March 1979. Survey results are based on data collected from 10,449 respondents. The survey data showed that enlisted personnel have relatively little involvement with leadership, management, or communicative tasks prior to paygrade E-5. A dramatic increase in performance of supervisory-oriented tasks occurs among E-5s, and general involvement with leadership, management, and communicative tasks increases greatly through paygrade E-8. Only a slight increase occurs from E-8 to E-9. The present enlisted PME(Professional Military Education) system, offering a greater amount of material in each PME phase, seems to fit this general pattern of involvement. In a series of curriculum workshops, PME representatives used survey data to identify the optimum PME phase point at which to introduce the particular skill or knowledge area relevant to each task. These data enabled them to validate or revise most of the PME curriculum goals and objectives outlined in AFR 50-39. The validation effort showed that the leadership, management, and communicative tasks performed by each paygrade group are generally being addressed by the corresponding phase of PME.