HISTORY AND PURPOSE OF CASAL
The CASAL is a long-standing and important means to gather input from the field on the
effectiveness of leader development, the quality of leadership, and the climate in which
they occur. Since 2005, CASAL results have been used to detect changes in the quality
of leadership skills, the effectiveness of leader development practices, and the climate
in which they occur. CASAL affords decision makers and stakeholders the option to make
informed course corrections or to leverage prevailing strengths in the Army.
This survey is your opportunity to share your opinion about your leader development
experiences and the quality of leadership in the Army in order to influence change.
Your feedback enables Army decision makers and stakeholders valuable insight to make
thoughtful decisions regarding leader development within the Army.
WHO PARTICIPATES AND HOW?
Not all Army personnel are invited to participate each year, though all Army personnel
have a chance of being randomly selected to participate in CASAL. Names are randomly
selected from the total population of all currently-serving Regular Army, US Army
Reserve, Army National Guard, and Army Civilian personnel. By using random sampling,
the feedback reflects the entire Army population, allowing for accurate insights into
specific matters related to leadership, leader effectiveness, and leader development.
In some cases, additional personnel are selected to participate in CASAL based on recent
completion of professional military education (PME) and Civilian Education System (CES)
courses or schools.
Each participant who is selected for CASAL is assigned a unique URL via their military
email. This URL can only be used once to access and complete the survey. Each URL is
intended only for one individual and must not be shared or distributed.
Survey runs from late OCT to late NOV.
ARE MY RESPONSES CONFIDENTIAL?
Yes. Your responses are confidential and your anonymity is protected. The Privacy Act
protects your identity, and no data will be disclosed that could be used to identify
specific individuals. Only the CAL research team and contractors who are involved in
collecting and preparing the information for analysis will have access to completed
surveys. The research team is required to agree to nondisclosure agreements and are
trained and certified in the protection of human subjects.
No data that could be used to identify a specific individual or a person’s specific
responses will be shared with any unit, organization, or chain-of-command. Only group
statistics will be reported. Responses are combined by grouping factors such as rank,
component (i.e., Active, Reserve, Civilian), or PME/CES course or school. Groups
generally represent 100’s or 1000’s of respondents. As an additional protection of
anonymity, groups of less than 75 in number are not interpreted or reported.
HOW HAVE CASAL FINDINGS BEEN USED?
The survey results will be analyzed by the CAL research team. The findings will be
shared with Army leaders and decision makers, administrators, trainers, and others to
assess leadership and leader development practices, examine policies, evaluate program
operations and outcomes, develop plans, and guide improvements.
Only group statistics will be reported, not for any specific individual, unit, or
organization. For example, results are generated for active and reserve component
leaders overall. Comparisons are made between results for officer and NCO participants.
Results for PME and CES courses and schools in a given year are compared to results from
previous years to detect change.
Each year, CASAL results are presented at the Army Profession Forum. Secretary of the
Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army, and Sergeant Major of the Army use the APF to provide
guidance, shape strategic messaging, and facilitate dialog among the Army’s senior leaders.
Information from past surveys has helped to identify gaps in leadership and has directly
informed several important initiatives and training products, including the Army handbook
on positive climate, instruction on dealing with counterproductive leaders, improvements
to professional military education (PME) and Civilian Education System (CES) courses and
schools, and efforts to increase employee engagement and reduce workload stress.
If you are interested in the products related to CASAL, click
here.
IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS:
We have a few more answers! You can check out any more FAQ we have
here.