The Computerized Adaptive Screening Test (CAST) was designed to predict performance on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). It includes two subtests: Word Knowledge (WK) and Arithmetic Reasoning (AR). CAST has been used by Army recruiters since the early 1980's to prescreen enlistment prospects. The Joint Recruiting Information Support Systems Program Management Office (JRISS PMO) program requested modifications to CAST to make it suitable for use by recruiters in all of the U.S. military services. This report documents the development of CAST, Version 5.
The Computerized Adaptive Screening Test (CAST) was designed to predict performance on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). It includes two subtests: Word Knowledge (WK) and Arithmetic Reasoning (AR). CAST has been used by Army recruiters since the early 1980's to prescreen enlistment prospects. The Joint Recruiting Information Support Systems Program Management Office (JRISS PMO) program requested modifications to CAST to make it suitable for use by recruiters in all of the U.S. military services. This report documents the development of CAST, Version 5.
The Computerized Adaptive Screening Test (CAST), which is capable of operating on a stand-alone microcomputer system in recruiting stations, was designed and developed to replace the Enlistment Screening Test (EST) currently in use. CAST correlates .87 with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). It is being further refined. EST is used by all services; thus, as recruiting operations are automated, CAST has potential value to them all for reducing administrative and clerical burdens on the recruiter. (Author).
Every year, the U.S. Army must select from an applicant pool in the hundreds of thousands to meet annual enlistment targets, currently numbering in the tens of thousands of new soldiers. A critical component of the selection process for enlisted service members is the formal assessments administered to applicants to determine their performance potential. Attrition for the U.S. military is hugely expensive. Every recruit that does not make it through basic training or beyond a first enlistment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Academic and other professional settings suffer similar losses when the wrong individuals are accepted into the wrong schools and programs or jobs and companies. Picking the right people from the start is becoming increasingly important in today's economy and in response to the growing numbers of applicants. Beyond cognitive tests of ability, what other attributes should selectors be considering to know whether an individual has the talent and the capability to perform as well as the mental and psychological drive to succeed? Measuring Human Capabilities: An Agenda for Basic Research on the Assessment of Individual and Group Performance Potential for Military Accession examines promising emerging theoretical, technological, and statistical advances that could provide scientifically valid new approaches and measurement capabilities to assess human capability. This report considers the basic research necessary to maximize the efficiency, accuracy, and effective use of human capability measures in the military's selection and initial occupational assignment process. The research recommendations of Measuring Human Capabilities will identify ways to supplement the Army's enlisted soldier accession system with additional predictors of individual and collective performance. Although the primary audience for this report is the U.S. military, this book will be of interest to researchers of psychometrics, personnel selection and testing, team dynamics, cognitive ability, and measurement methods and technologies. Professionals interested in of the foundational science behind academic testing, job selection, and human resources management will also find this report of interest.
The Computerized Adaptive Screening Test (CAST) is used by Army recruiters to predict prospective applicants' (i.e., prospects') performance on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). CAST performance data were collected from 60 recruiting stations across the country throughout calendar year 1985. These data were matched to applicant tapes from Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) to obtain AFQT scores and relevant demographic information. Data analyses indicate that CAST is quite good at predicting AFQT scores for the entire sample and for examinees grouped by sex and race (black or white). When corrected for restriction in range, the cross-validated validity estimate based on the whole sample is .86. Race and sex differences in prediction exist, but these differences are minor and they correspond to those differences found with most cognitive ability tests. CAST's accuracy at predicting subsequent classification into important AFQT categories (i.e., 1-3A and 1-3B) is also discussed.
The Army must meet quantity and quality goals in its recruiting. Recent advances in computer technology and psychometric theory have made possible a new type of assessment technique, called computerized adaptive testing (CAT), that can provide accurate estimates of ability based on relatively few test items. The Computerized Adaptive Screening Test (CAST) was designed to estimate a prospect's Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score at the recruiting station. Recruiters use prospects' CAST scores to determine whether applicants should be sent to Military Entrance Processing Stations for further testing. These scores also forecast the various options and benefits for which the prospects will subsequently qualify. This report summarizes analyses from a nation-wide cross-validation study and recommends that changes be made to CAST to improve its utility to recruiters. Keywords: Aptitude tests; Test construction(Psychology).
The Computerized Adaptive Screening Test (CAST) is used by Army recruiters to predict prospective applicants' subsequent performance on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). A modified version of the CAST software was used in 60 recruiting stations across the country from January through December 1985 to collect CAST item-level performance information. Screening test data were matched to applicant records from Military Entrance Processing Stations to obtain ASVAB scores and relevant demographic information. The cross-validated, corrected correlation between CAST and AFQT scores is .83. CAST's ability to predict important AFQT performance categories and Army Aptitude Area scores was also examined. Alternative subtest lengths were evaluated and item bank characteristics were described. Keywords: Recruiting, Computerized adaptive testing (CAT), Enlistment screening test (EST).
"A computer adaptive test was administered over the telephone by reading items and response alternatives to 144 individuals who had recently enlisted in the U.S. Army and had completed the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Subject responses were entered into a computer by the telephone interviewer thereby allowing the adaptive test program to estimate aptitude with approximately 10 verbal items. Analyses indicate that the Telephone Test is highly correlated with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) in the sample we tested, r = .66; the bivariate correction for range restriction estimated this population correlation to be .81. A confirmatory factor analysis produced a four factor solution with the Telephone Test loading at a very high level (.91) on a Verbal factor, which had a substantial loading (.72) on a higher order factor. The magnitude of the factor loadings and the administration time (5 to 10 minutes) indicate that the procedure provides an excellent measure of crystallized Verbal aptitude that can be incorporated into brief telephone interviews and used to estimate AFQT and general aptitude."--DTIC.
