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TESTIMONY BY BRIGADIER GENERAL KATHRYN G. FROST THE ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY BEFORE THE HOUSE VETERAN'S AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS HEARING ON VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT: CREDENTIALING (LICENSURE, CERTIFICATION, ACCREDITATION AND APPRENTICESHIP) REQUIREMENTS SECOND SESSION, 106TH CONGRESS SEPTEMBER 27, 2000
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the soldiers and civilians of the United States Army, I appreciate the invitation to again testify before you today. I believe last September's testimony about the Army's robust training, education, and transition programs for soldiers helped lay the groundwork for better understanding and communication between the Army and the diverse certification, business and industry communities. Creating a clear path to certification from Army skills training and matching those skills to the civilian requirements of business and industry is a very complex task. Since last year's hearing, the Army has been engaged in adding several new initiatives to our existing programs that will not only expand the credentialing opportunities for our soldiers, but will also help transform the Army into an organization more appealing and relevant to our nations' younger generation. The "Net" generation is one which wants to not only learn a high-tech skill while in the Army, but also wants to attain the same competitive educational and professional level as their civilian counterparts. These new initiatives are a part of the "People" component of the Army's Vision and Transformation plan. The Army's overall vision and plan is to transform itself into a force that is strategically responsive and dominant across the spectrum of operations. The support of this Administration and Congress has helped immensely over the past months, charting a new direction for the Armed Forces and for the Army, in particular. The support sent a strong message to our soldiers and their families that their service is appreciated. There is much work to be done as the Army realizes its vision. The Army must minimize the vulnerabilities associated with frequent contingencies, long-term commitments, and global power projection. We must train soldiers and grow leaders to adapt readily to conditions across the spectrum of military operations and to build organizations capable of attaining dominance at every point on that spectrum. The Army Vision charts a course to better align the capabilities of the Army with the challenges it is likely to face in the years ahead. The Army has already begun to transform and reshape itself, but will need your sustained assistance to achieve our goals. Soldiers are the centerpiece of the formation for these new initiatives. It is the soldier who enables America to meet its leadership responsibilities worldwide. Soldiers are our investment in America. And, we must invest in soldiers as well to ensure we recruit the best, retain the best, and return the best to our Nation to be outstanding, productive citizens. Today, I want to speak to you about the education and credentialing programs the Army is developing to ensure our investment provides dividends for soldier and for Army readiness and well being. In last year's testimony, I spoke about our education and transition infrastructure. To summarize, we already have successful in-service adult education programs and student support services that range from remedial instruction all the way to the graduate level degrees, counseling, testing, transcripting, and transition services. The Army provides financial assistance through the Army's tuition assistance program. In 1999, we had 19,319 soldiers enrolled in our basic skills program and 138,945 soldiers enrolled in our postsecondary programs. Of those participating in our degree programs, 5,279 obtained degrees and 1,838 received vocational/technical certificates from accredited colleges and universities--gaining credits through classroom attendance, competency based testing, and military training and experience equivalency credits. During the 1998-99 academic school year, the number of equivalent college credits awarded by the Army/American Council on Education Registry Transcript System participant schools averaged more than 21 credits per soldier. Today I will only address the education and certification initiatives that expand our basic programs and how they relate. These initiatives are very much a part of the Army's reshaping efforts. I preface the description of these new programs by first stating that the Army has three very different populations of learners—"Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y (a.k.a.the "Net" Generation)." The "Net Gen" is cyber-savvy and expects to learn via the computer. Moreover, they are hooked on the Internet with its instant access to information, crave immediate feedback, often challenge things they are told, and can't stand to be away from their computers very long. The Army recognizes that our menu of education and certification programs must include a blend of learning options to accommodate all three generations. Additionally, plagued by persistent recruitment challenges in persuading young people to join the Army and determined to win the hearts and minds of young Americans with little passion for military life, The Secretary of the Army, Louis Caldera, and The Chief of Staff of the Army, General Erik Shinseki, rethought the ways to find, train and keep troops. As a result, these are some of the programs that have been launched to meet the expectations of this "Net Gen" group and expand learning and credentialing opportunities throughout the Army. On July 10, 2000, the Secretary of the Army announced a major new educational initiative, Army University Access Online. Designed to offer enlisted soldiers a streamlined "portal" approach to a wide variety of online post-secondary degrees and technical certificates. The program will leverage technology to enable enlisted soldiers to complete degree and certificate requirements "anytime, anyplace, anywhere they can take their laptop." Planned features for soldiers include fully funded tuition assistance, books, fees for online courses, and a technology package, including a laptop computer and internet service account. Added to the existing education programs and services available to soldiers, this online program will help ensure that all soldiers have the opportunity to fulfill their personal and professional educational goals while simultaneously building the technology, critical thinking, and decision-making skills required to fully transform the Army. Since courses will be primarily asynchronous, this will allow soldiers, previously cut out of the education track by shift schedules and frequent deployments, to go to school any place and any time. The Army will contract with an "Integrator" to create and manage the largest online education portal of colleges and universities offering cost effective programs tailored to military needs. We have actively solicited industry and academia's help in this initiative and expect to award a contract by years' end with the first students enrolled in January 2001—anticipate Army-wide implementation. The end result of this initiative will be to offer eligible soldiers opportunities to obtain higher education degrees and technical certifications by maximizing the use of technology-based online education opportunities. In addition to providing technical certification opportunities through the America University Access Online initiative, the GI to Jobs program has been developed in response to the Secretary of the Army's directive to improve credentialing opportunities. Aimed at non-degree oriented soldiers, the GI to Jobs program will offer expanded opportunities for soldiers to earn civilian credentials related to their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). All MOS-related credentialing examinations will be identified, clearly articulated by MOS, and fully funded with participants provided appropriate preparation materials/courses to ensure success. The Army contracted with DynCorp, on August 4, 2000 to support the development of the GI to Jobs program. The Army, in its efforts to improve civilian credentialing program opportunities for soldiers, will capitalize and expand upon the work already begun by DoL-VETS. It is intended that DynCorp will: 1) identify Army occupational specialties requiring some form of licensure or certification; 2) conduct gap analysis of identified Army specialties and corresponding civilian occupations; and, 3) create an Internet-based website that will provide counselors, soldiers, family members, and employers with information on Federal, State and proprietary certification and licensing requirements for each MOS. Once the analysis of civilian credentialing requirements applicable to each MOS has been conducted and associated national certification/licensure identified, the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) will work with the Army to expand the number of examinations offered, including making available preparation materials. DANTES will establish Memoranda of Understanding with credentialing agencies. Additionally, where possible, DANTES will establish agreements to allow certification exams to be given at military testing facilities further facilitating soldier success. Additionally, the GI to Jobs will support, to the extent possible, another Army initiative called the Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS) program. PaYS is an initiative developed by United States Army Recruiting Command to appeal to young people who are interested in having a quality civilian job after serving in the Army. This unique program is part of Army's effort to partner with America's industry by matching soldiers with hard to fill jobs. To show and sell the PaYS skill options which are available to applicants, the recruiter will have access to information which crosswalks MOS to industry skills and also depicts long-term job forecasts from participating companies. Army agreements with some companies may provide the soldier with credit for service in the Army or advanced placement based on skill certification. The GI to Jobs program will further provide the critical credentialing for skills certification with industry. Directly linked to all of these initiatives is the Army's Career Degree program that I spoke about last year. The concept behind the program is to identify and match suitable degree programs to specific MOS, maximize the amount of credit for military training and experience, and minimize the amount of college study. The program also ensures evaluated certification exam credit recommended by the American Council on Education or institution is applied towards degree completion. Last year at this time we had developed and established two degree programs with one college that encompassed 15 MOS in aviation technology. What began with a single college and one career management field (CMF) is now expanded greatly. Today we have partnered with over 15 institutions to develop career degrees and have established a total of 18 degrees. At the close of the third quarter, fiscal year 2000, Army Career Degrees were completed for 27 MOS from Six CMF and one Warrant Officer Specialty serving approximately 39,000 soldiers. Degrees from two CMF (covering 12 MOS and approximately 40,000 soldiers) were in draft form and under review, while degrees for seven CMF covering 25 MOS and an additional 50,000 soldiers were in development stage. Altogether a total of approximately 147,000 soldiers, 44 percent of the Army enlisted strength, in 17 unduplicated CMF and one Warrant Officer Specialty, accounting for more than 81 unique MOS, are addressed by the Career Degree initiative. These programs demonstrate that the Army has the ability to truly make a difference in the personal and professional development of our soldiers, as well as, in the quality of the American workforce which often looks to the Army for skilled, disciplined, and experienced employees and leaders. Our efforts, however, would be significantly stronger if we can attract enthusiastic support, participation and cooperation by government, business, industry and credentialing agencies. The first priority should be the creation of national industry standards that will provide broader acceptance of military skills and training, as well as, consistency from state to state and company to company. The complexity and challenge of the credentialing process can be daunting in a dynamic employment market. We encourage professional credentialing agencies that provide curriculum and competency based education courses to be a part of the Army University Access Online and GI to Jobs initiatives. We also recommend that the credentialing agencies form a group, much like the academic community, to provide a "portal" for easier access to information governing credentialing preparation and examination. We also encourage the credentialing agencies to enter into Memoranda of Agreement with DANTES Certification and Examination program and allow exams to be given, to the extent possible, at military testing facilities. Agencies can partner with the Army in the GI to Jobs program to create roadmaps to certification—clear pathways to learning and credentialing. We invite industry to partner with the PaYS initiative and invest with us in America's most important resource--soldiers. PaYS provides direct access to industry and employer and helps facilitate translation of applicable occupationally determined skill sets. These are only suggestions, but ones that we believe will help bring us greater access to credentialing information, preparation and testing opportunities and provide for very unique partnerships with industry and business. In closing, I thank you for this opportunity to come before this committee again to inform you about the Army's programs in education, certification and transition and how we are moving forward in our efforts to credential the soldier. The Army is committed to providing quality services to build a stronger force and to support our departing soldiers, civilians, and their family members. We look forward to a closer working relationship with the credentialing agencies, business and industry to provide our soldiers more opportunity should they seek to continue their contribution to this Nation in the civilian sector. When America invests in soldiers, we invest not only in Army readiness but also in the future of a stronger, more productive Nation. Thank you for your continued interest in programs for these great Americans. Back to Witness List |