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Coming Soon, Educational Tier Tweeners
November 23rd, 2011
The current rendition of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 that hit the full Senate for consideration this past Friday contains some language that should make a whole lot of people thinking about a future in the military, happy. If passed as written, expect a lot of currently evaluated Tier II schools to be treated as Tier I.
According to SEC. 526, equal treatment will be given for individuals who graduate from a legally operating secondary school. I would think that would encompass state recognized charter schools, Home School, and other schools that don’t fit the old idea of a regular traditional public high school. It should take away the requirement for a 50QT minimum for Home School graduates. Gone should be the days when a recruiter would need to advise an applicant who graduated a non-traditional, state approved high school that their diploma wasn’t enough, and that they needed to go to college and obtain at least 15 college credits.
Well, hopefully.
As with just about all laws that are written, there are loopholes. Competing interests get involved, and those in congress try and make everybody as happy as they can be – a little give and take, as it were. This section mandates “Equal treatment“, but contradicts that mandate by allowing the services “[to] include the use of a noncognitive aptitude test, adaptive personality assessment, or other operational attrition screening tool to predict performance, behaviors, and attitudes of potential recruits that influence attrition and the ability to adapt to a regimented life in the Armed Forces.”
Tier Tweeners or Tier I½’ers. Whatever. We either trust the States or we don’t.
The Section in question (emphasis is mine);
SEC. 526. POLICY ON MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTMENT OF GRADUATES OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
- (a) Equal Treatment for Secondary School Graduates-
- (1) EQUAL TREATMENT- For the purposes of recruitment and enlistment in the Armed Forces, the Secretary of a military department shall treat a graduate described in paragraph (2) in the same manner as a graduate of a secondary school (as defined in section 9101(38)) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(38))
- (2) COVERED GRADUATES- Paragraph (1) applies with respect to a person who–
- (A) receives a diploma from a secondary school that is legally operating;
- (B) otherwise completes a program of secondary education in compliance with the education laws of the State in which the person resides.
- (b) Policy on Recruitment and Enlistment- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe a policy on recruitment and enlistment that incorporates the following:
- (1) Means for identifying persons described in subsection (a)(2) who are qualified for recruitment and enlistment in the Armed Forces, which may include the use of a noncognitive aptitude test, adaptive personality assessment, or other operational attrition screening tool to predict performance, behaviors, and attitudes of potential recruits that influence attrition and the ability to adapt to a regimented life in the Armed Forces.
- (2) Means for assessing how qualified persons fulfill their enlistment obligation.
- (3) Means for maintaining data, by each diploma source, which can be used to analyze attrition rates among qualified persons.
- (c) Recruitment Plan- As part of the policy required by subsection (b), the Secretary of each of the military departments shall develop a recruitment plan that includes a marketing strategy for targeting various segments of potential recruits with all types of secondary education credentials.
- (d) Communication Plan- The Secretary of each of the military departments shall develop a communication plan to ensure that the policy and recruitment plan are understood by military recruiters.
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