The Fitness Report System for Marine Officers Prior Research

The Marine Corps Fitness Report (FitRep) system provides the official evaluation and record of an officer’s performance. Given the FitRep’s importance in determining fair and equal opportunity for career progression and continuation, it is crucial that the system be reviewed periodically. The Marine Corps implemented the current FitRep system in 1999 to address concerns about grade inflation, and the system has not received a thorough examination since then.

The Director, Manpower Management Division asked CNA to conduct a systematic review of the FitRep system for officers and to examine whether the system is accomplishing what the Marine Corps intended. This is a broad question that encompasses several issues. Previous studies have focused on two issues:

• How do FitRep marks differ by observable characteristics?
• How do FitRep marks affect promotion and continuation?

This information memorandum reviews the literature on the Marine Corps FitRep system to inform our analysis of these two questions, and it notes the literature’s relevance to our broader research agenda.