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and training opportunities in the military services. It
also helps recruiters in efficiently contacting students
based on the students’ plans and abilities. The ASVAB
is the most widely used vocational aptitude battery in
the country. About 1 million students in some 14,000
high schools and postsecondary institutions participate
in the program each year, Although you represent the
Navy specifically, the ASVAB is a DOD test and must
be presented as such. It is also to your benefit, in
talking with educators and students, to stress the
joint-service nature of the test. This approach gives you
the widest market appeal.
MARKETING THE ASVAB.– One of recruiters’
important responsibilities is to arrange for testing in the
schools.
Each year
the schools are divided
proportionately among the military services by the local
Interservice Recruitment Committee (IRC). This
committee is made up of local recruiting unit COs.
Each recruiting station receives a list of schools for
which they are responsible for scheduling the ASVAB.
Many schools already usc the test annually, and
recruiters will only have to arrange for them to continue
testing. RINCs should review all school folders before
the school year begins to determine what efforts should
be made for ASVAB marketing. Some schools may test
only certain grades, make test participation optional, or
decline the testing entirely. The ED SPEC is responsible
for introducing and selling the ASVAB to education
administrators. Initial efforts will be made by the
recruiter assigned to the school. The RINC and ZS also
should become involved if there is a problem with
scheduling student testing in a school. Our goal is to
test as many students as possible in grades 10 through
12, Freshmen are not tested. You should try to
encourage mandatory testing in all schools. Sell the
counselor on the overall benefits of percentile
comparisons when the entire grade is tested. Mandatory
testing may result in some students willfully
misrepresenting their abilities on the test, but the goal
of market identification is still accomplished. The
preferred grade for mandatory testing is grade 11.
ASVAB scores are good for 2 years from the date of
the test, so they will still be valid when the student
graduates. The obvious benefit is that you will have
your 11S market identified and partially blueprinted
before the school year begins.
SCHEDULING THE ASVAB.– When scheduling
the ASVAB, recruiters should obtain a preferred and
alternate date for testing from the school official. These
dates are coordinated with the master testing schedule
maintained by the Chief, Testing Management Section
(CTMS) at each MEPS. Test dates have to be
satisfactory to both the school and the CTMS. When a
test date must be changed, every effort is made to
accommodate the school. The CTMS also must be
advised of the number of students to be tested so the
test administrator will bring adequate materials on
testing day.
PUBLICIZING THE ASVAB.– Recruiters should
meet with school officials and develop a plan to
publicize the ASVAB. The plan should include
provisions for addressing student assemblies, faculty
meetings, and parent-teacher organizations; providing
and distributing ASVAB promotional materials; placing
articles in school newspapers; and, when appropriate,
sending news releases to local media. Recruiters may
want to conduct a phone blitz to juniors and seniors
reminding them of ASVAB test dates. The object is to
attract as many students as possible to take the test. The
more pretest activity that is generated, the more
successful the turnout. Materials that will help in
promoting the ASVAB are shown in figure 6-12.
PROCTORING THE ASVAB.– Test security
requires a minimum of 1 proctor for every 40 students
to be tested. You can request the school furnish these
proctors. However, if school proctors are not available,
arrangements must be made for military proctors. The
recruiter responsible for the school should always be
present for ASVAB administration. Usually the local
IRC will establish procedures for arranging military
proctors. They may notify the responsible service to
arrange for them, or notify each service of the number
of proctors they should provide. Whether the school is
a Navy-assigned school or not, always check on
arrangements before test day. Absolutely no recruiting
activities are allowed during the administration of the
ASVAB.
TEST SCORE RESULTS.– ASVAB scores are
reported to the school in the form of percentiles. This
means that each student’s performance on the test is
compared with a representative sample of American
youth that is considered the base of reference
population. For example, if a student scored at the 45th
percentile on the composite, that student did as well or
better than 45 percent of the people in the reference
population. Juniors, seniors, and postsecondary students
receive two sets of percentile scores. One set compares
them to students of the same grade and sex, and the
other set compares them to the total reference
population. The Counselor Summary compares scores
to all students of the same grade and students of the
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