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A multivariate modeling approach was developed to assess the impact of changes in aptitude requirement minimums on U.S. Air Force technical training outcomes. Initially, interviews were conducted with technical training personnel to identify significant student inputs, course content, and training outcome variables. Measures of these variables were formulated on the basis of personnel records and routinely available training documents, znd data were assembled for over 5,000 trainees in 39 initial-skills courses at five Air Force bases. A cross-validation sample consisted of about 1,000 trainees in nine courses. Using formal path analysis (LISREL V computer program), an empirical model of the training process was developed. Although aptitude was one of the best predictors of the quality of student performance, it interacted with a vaiiety of other student input and course content variables in determining training outcomes. Course content variables tended to be defined by course subject-matter difficulty, occupational difficulty, and manpower requirements, Counseling mediated the relationship between training performance and distal training outcomes such as retraining time and student elimination. Appendices present sample interview questions, an Air Force policy document on student measurement (with reporting forms), and tables of input statistics and path analysis results.

Burtch, Lipscomb, and Wissman's (1982) occupational learning difficulty index attempts to measure the difficulty of occupations by aggregating workers' evaluations of task learning time. In the present study we examined the construct validity of this job analysis index. To accomplish this, 48 different occupational training programs were described in terms of 15 training content variables, 6 student characteristics variables, and 7 training performance variables. The results, obtained in a correlational analysis, indicated that the occupational learning difficulty index yielded an interpretable pattern of relationships with the training content and performance variables. We conclude that this task learning time index displays some construct validity as a measure of occupational difficulty and, therefore, should prove of value in designing training, manpower allocation, and job evaluation systems.

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