An Enlisted Performance Report (EPR) is an evaluation form used by the United States Air Force. Instructions for constructing an EPR appear in chapter 3 of Air Force Instruction 36-2406: Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems. The EPR replaced the Airman Performance Report (APR) in the late 1980s. Aircraft of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing and coalition counterparts stationed together at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in southwest Asia, fly over the desert. ...

The commissioned officer equivalent is the Officer Performance Report (OPR). In military organizations, a commissioned officer is a member of the service who derives authority directly from a sovereign power, and as such holds a commission from that power. ...

Purpose

• To provide meaningful feedback to individuals on what is expected of them, advice on how well they are meeting those expectations, and advice on how to better meet those expectations.
• To provide a reliable, long-term, cumulative record of performance and potential based on that performance.
• To provide officer central selection boards, senior NCO evaluation boards, the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS), and other personnel managers sound information to assist in identifying the best qualified enlisted personnel. In WAPS, past EPRs are worth up to 135 points.

The Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) is a United States Air Force program that determines who will be promoted to the ranks of Staff Sergeant (E-5) through Master Sergeant (E-7) and provides feedback score sheets to enlisted members considered for promotion. ...

Evaluation

An EPR evaluates the performance of an enlisted member both on and off duty. The period of time covered by the EPR is normally no less than 120 days and no longer than 365 days. A scale of 1 to 5 is used as an overall rating of the member's performance with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. EPRs are normally written by the member's supervisor with additional input provided by their supervisor's supervisor.

Although the bulk of the evaluation is focused on their duty (job) performance, enlisted members are also evaluated on their off-duty performance in areas such as volunteerism and continuing education. This is arguably the biggest difference between the Air Force EPR and civilian counterparts.

Personnel who have left the Air Force and are seeking jobs in the civilian world will sometimes use EPRs to augment their résumé. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Criticism

The EPR system has come under heavy criticism from all ranks in the Air Force. The primary complaint is that the system has become "inflated". While technically the 1 through 5 scale is supposed to award an "average" performer a 3 and the 5 should only be reserved for the truly above and beyond outstanding members, the practice has been that everyone deserves a 5 unless they screw up. The problem is that there is no additional indication of a truly stellar member, and when the promotions competition time comes, the deciding factor is most often the tests rather than the EPR, where PERFORMANCE is supposed to be rated.

As a result, say the detractors, those who get promoted are those who study and pass the tests, rather than those whose true duty performance history puts them in a place to become good leaders.

External links

• Air Force Form 910: Enlisted Performance Report (AB through TSgt)
• Air Force Form 911: Senior Enlisted Performance Report (MSgt through CMSgt)
• Air Force Instruction 36-2406: Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems