Prediction of Success in FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Air Traffic Control Field Training as a Function of Selection and Screening Test Performance

摘要

This study compared correlations between Office of Personnel Management (OPM) selection test scores for Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs) and scores from the FAA Academy's second-stage screening program with measures of field training performance. Field training performance measures were collected for 3,185 en route and 1,740 terminal ATCS developmentals. Baseline data were also collected from over 125,000 applicants who took the OPM ATCS selection battery and over 9,000 entrants to Academy programs. Separate analyses were conducted for developmentals assigned to en route centers, VFR towers, and terminal radar facilities. The Multiplex Controller Aptitude Test (MCAT) predicts field training performance better for en route developmentals than any other OPM test. MCAT is not predictive of field training performance for terminal developmentals, but scores on the Occupational Knowledge Test (OKT) are predictive. For both en route and terminal developmentals, Academy laboratory performance scores are more predictive of field training performance than are academic test scores; for developmentals at VFR towers, the average Academy block test score predicts about as well as the laboratory performance scores. Adjusting correlations for restriction in the range of scores on selection procedures revealed that while the OPM rating and the Academy course grade predict some measures of developmental training performance equally well, the Academy performance measures, particularly the laboratory performance scores, are better predictors of supervisor/OJT instructor ratings and training status than are OPM scores.