Research for JPM

The Marine Corps Job Performance Measurement (JPM) project was a long term research effort to develop objective measures of job performance and to relate these measures to the aptitude test used for military selection. The second phase of the project focused on mechanical maintenance specialties: automotive and helicopter mechanics. This research memorandum documents the ability of scores from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) to predict several measures of mechanical maintenance performance: hands-on performance tests, job knowledge tests, initial skill training course grades, and supervisor ratings. We examined tradeoffs between aptitude and job experience in predicting job performance. We also derived aptitude standards for these mechanical maintenance specialties based on the hands-on performance criterion. The Marine Corps JPM project succeeded in developing reliable, objective, and representative measures of mechanical maintenance job performance. The results from the project provide the Marine Corps with convincing empirical evidence that demonstrates the strong link between performance on the ASVAB and future performance in selected mechanical maintenance jobs.

The armed services use the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) to select and classify enlisted personnel. The Marine Corps uses its Electronics (EL) composite of four ASVAB subtests to classify recruits into electronics-related field. This memorandum investigates whether the Marine Corps' EL composite is a valid predictor of performance in electronics courses, and whether the current EL standard of 115 is supported by analysis of training grade data.

This memorandum reports the procedures used for the development and scoring of hands-on performance tests for the mechanical maintenance phase of the Job Performance Measurement project.

Hands-on performance tests and job-knowledge tests were developed for the CH-53E helicopter mechanic as part of the Marine Corps Job Performance Measurement Project. The purpose of this information memorandum is to disseminate these performance measures to Marine Corps personnel managers, training instructors, and interested researchers who may find them useful. This work comprises two parts: this volume contains the hands-on performance test, and a second volume presents the administrative duties and job-knowledge tests. See also 95 020802 (Volume II).