Tier One Performance Screen Initial Operational Test and Evaluation: 2011 Annual Report

Along with educational, medical, and moral screens, the U.S. Army uses a composite score from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), to select new Soldiers. Although the AFQT is useful for selecting new Soldiers, other personal attributes are important to Soldier performance and retention. Based on previous U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) investigations, the Army selected one promising measure, the Tailored Adaptive Personality Assessment System (TAPAS), for an initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E), beginning administration to applicants in 2009. Criterion data are being compiled at 6-month intervals from administrative records, from schools for selected military occupational specialties (MOS), and from Soldiers in units. This is the fourth in a series of planned evaluations of the TAPAS, and the first to include in-unit criterion data. Similar to prior research, the cumulative results thus far suggest that several TAPAS scales significantly predict a number of criteria of interest, indicating that the measure holds promise for both selection and classification purposes.