True reports: Fort Jackson coordinates NCOER training sessions

By Christine SchweickertApril 23, 2015

NCOER
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For the next two weeks, more than 600 representatives from posts across the country will come to Fort Jackson to learn how to use the Army's new NCO evaluation system. Then, they'll return to their installations to train others.

Fort Jackson G1 will coordinate two weeklong NCOER training sessions with the Army's Human Resources Command out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.

The new rating system is scheduled to take effect in September, bringing evaluations for NCOs in line with those for commissioned officers and attempting to ensure that NCOs receive feedback in a timely fashion. The secretary of the Army approved used of the new system last August.

"It forces you to do what you're supposed to do," Sgt. Maj. Katrina Herzfeld of G1 said of the new system. Herzfeld is coordinating the Train the Trainer sessions with HRC, to work not only with those in the active Army but in the Reserves and National Guard as well.

The old system also allowed evaluators to give too many top scores, Herzog said. And it was so open that Soldiers sometimes could complete their own evaluations.

Under the new system, the senior evaluator can name only so many Soldiers "the best," Herzfeld said -- "so you have to figure out who you really, really want to give this to."

Also "in the past, once the form was filled out and signed off (on) by the entire rating chain," it would be posted digitally -- and open to those other than raters. Thus, an officer who didn't want to take the time to enter his own ratings could ask a clerk to do so.

"A lot of times," Herzfeld says, "Soldiers were writing their own evaluations."

The new system ensures a "true report" of NCO ratings on such Army values as loyalty, duty and integrity, Herzfeld said. It also is set up to prompt evaluation and counseling sessions with a superior officer after an NCO spends 30 days in a new position, as well as every quarter thereafter.

Former Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler has said the new ratings system will clearly "identify premier leaders in a highly competitive environment."

It will replace bulleted lists with narratives, and use different criteria to evaluate those at different levels.

The new system comprises three specific evaluation instruments -- for E5, E6-E8 and E9 -- so that NCOs can be compared only with their peers. The old rating system lumped all NCOs together.

The new forms will replace the old labels of "excellence," "success" or "needs improvement." E5s will be graded on whether or not they meet standards. Those from E6 to E9 will not meet standards, meet standards, exceed standards or far exceed standards.

Those rating an E9 also will have to include a narrative on effectiveness to the Army.

As with the Officer Evaluation Report, each senior rater will be limited in the number of NCOs he can label as being in top form or "most qualified."

The revised NCOER is expected to better identify talent with the Army, help move the talent to the best posting and provide the Army with a better was to identify Soldiers who should receive key assignments. It also should ensure depth of experience before a Soldier receives a promotion -- a measure that also evaluates whether senior officers make informed ratings.

As trainers fan out across the Army to teach the new NCOER, HRC will test implementation of the new system -- likely in late spring and early summer, said Sgt. Maj. Stephen McDermid of HRC Evaluations Branch. Testing will help HRC to identify issues and make refinements before the system takes effect.

The final draft NCOER will be posted 90 days before implementation so that Soldiers across the Army can begin to familiarize themselves with the changes.

"Rating officials can begin counseling and documenting the rated NCO's performance," said McDermid.

The new system is five years in the making.

In 2010, the Army chief of staff directed a review of the old NCO evaluation system, which had been in place since 1987. By 2012, the Sergeant Major of the Army had recommended a number of revisions. HRC then submitted the revisions for officer reviews before its implementation last August.