Research for Time-to-Train

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USMC Training: A Synthesis of CNA's Work
November 1, 2008
Maintaining a corps of highly skilled Marines is critical to the success of the Marine Corps. Such a force is the result of well-conceived and designed training programs. CNA’s training analyses are designed to help the Marine Corps develop and maintain such programs. Our analyses tend to fall into two categories- training assessment, and the economics of training. In our training assessment studies, we attempt to answer the following questions, “Is what is being taught, being learned?” and “Is what is being taught, what needs to be taught?” We use a skills-based approach to identify the core skills that a Marine needs to acquire through specific training and to assess whether the training teaches those skills. The second type of training study we undertake explores the links between manpower and the training pipeline. In one sub-set of studies, we focus on the rates and causes of attrition, particularly for first-term non-EAS Marines, and on critical indicators that the Marine Corps can use to better track manpower throughout the training pipeline. A second sub-set focuses on how long it takes to train a Marine, and the effect of the training process on manpower.
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Time to Train in Self-Paced Courses and the Return on Investment from Course Conversion
March 1, 2007
The Human Performance and Acquisition Assessment Branch (N-173) asked the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) to determine whether conversions of Navy courses to computerized self-paced format have decreased time to train, and, if so, whether these savings were achieved at the expense of students’ subsequent Navy success in C-School or later. To answer these questions, we analyzed the results of three A-School course conversions. We found that (1) converting courses to computerized self-paced format resulted in significant decreases in time to train (2) these savings were achieved with no apparent ill effects on students’ success in C-School or later Navy career progression (3) the Navy should expect that converting courses to computerized self-paced format will result in reductions in time to train of 10 to 30 percent, (4) decreases in time to train results in significant savings, both in man-years and monetary terms, (4) time awaiting transfer, after training, increased for some converted courses, (6) Navy Education and training should give priority to converting courses and content that have long course lengths and high student throughput. Further savings could occur by addressing the increase in time awaiting transfer (AT) that occurred after some courses.
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Officer Street-to-Fleet Database
September 1, 2002
Abstract:d6693 This report describes the development of CNA's Officer Street-to-Fleet (OSTF) database and reports changes in time-to-train for the aviation, surface warfare, submarine, and supply corps communities. OSTF is a longitudinal database designed for use in descriptive, statistical and evaluative studies of Navy training. It combines the the Defense Manpower Data Center's Officer Master Files with extracts from the Navy Integrated Training Resources Administration System (NITRAS). The result is a complete account of officers' training histories from accession to first operational assignment. OSTF includes all officers who started training between October 1992 and September 2001. For each officer, it reports courses taken, start and end dates of each course, course outcomes, and time-to-train prior to first assignment. It also covers officer characteristics such as race, gender and accession source and records career events such as pipeline completion, attrition, and lateral transfer. In general, there has been a decline in average TTT to first assignment for successive accession cohorts throughout the 1990s for officers who complete training. Where possible, we break down average TTT into average time under instruction (UI), time not under instruction (NUI), and stash time. Changes in average NUI and stash time over the period have been mixed.
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