Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions, No.
28, April 2002          


United States
Office of Personnel Management


Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness
Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions
April 2002
Article No. 28-04


Standards: Grade Evaluation Guide for Positions of Managers
	 of Operating Education Programs (August 1974)
   Education Services, GS-1740 (October 1991)

Factor: Factor 1, Student Load

Issue: Alternative method for determining student load


   Identification of the Classification Issue

The appellant's position was classified as Education Services
Officer, GS-1740-12. Since the appellant managed an education
services program, the position was graded using the Grade
Evaluation Guide for Positions of Managers of Operating Education
Programs (Guide). The program provided counseling and testing
services; remedial courses, tutoring services, and special
subject courses such as speed reading, military defensive
driving, and courses to increase military occupational skills
scores; college level courses, offered on post, off post, and
through distance learning technology; undergraduate and graduate
level degree programs; high school completion and general
education equivalency programs; and tuition assistance for
soldiers to attend college. The appellant negotiated and
coordinated with universities and colleges for courses and
programs that met the educational needs of individuals at his
installation. At issue was calculating student load under Factor
1 of the Guide and assigning an appropriate title to the
position.

       Resolution

Normally, when evaluating Factor 1, the student load is measured
by taking an average of the number of students simultaneously
enrolled and participating in the facility's education and
training program. In most cases, student load computation can be
made by counting the number of students enrolled and
participating in one or more courses at the beginning of each
quarter of the fiscal year for a representative number of
quarters and then dividing that number by the number of quarters
used. In some instances, it may be necessary to use another date
within the quarter to get a more representative picture of the
student load of the program.

Consistent with the intent of the Guide, the facility tracked
college courses by counting each student only once during each
quarter. However, for two other categories of courses -- those
taken in the learning centers on post and military subject
correspondence courses taken through military or armed forces
organizations, OPM found that the facility's tracking system
counted the number of enrollments rather than enrollees. This
meant that the fiscal year figures included a count for a student
each time he or she enrolled in one of these other courses during
the quarter. According to the Guide, each student can only be
counted once. Since the agency counted only the number of
enrollments, OPM could not conclude that each enrollment
represented an individual student. Therefore, OPM used an
alternative method to determine the student load. Because
enrollees frequently took courses in these two categories
(learning centers on post and military subject correspondence
courses) simultaneously, OPM estimated that half of the
enrollments in each of the two categories might represent a
single count for each student taking creditable courses during
each of the four quarters. Using that method of estimation, OPM
added the average number of students for those two categories to
the average number of students enrolled in college courses to
arrive at the student load for the appellant's position.

OPM also found that the title the agency assigned to the
appellant's position of Education Services Officer did not meet
the titling requirements prescribed in the standard for the
Education Services Series, GS-1740. The standard for the
Education Services Series, GS-1740, prescribes the title of
Education Services Specialist for nonsupervisory positions that
involve directing or managing an education services program.
Since OPM found that the appellant's position also met the
supervisory classification criteria in the General Schedule
Supervisory Guide, the official title for the position was
Supervisory Education Services Specialist.

Link to C-1740-12-01