Leadership Evaluation Reports (LER)

Every student shall complete one Leadership Evaluation Form (LER) per academic year. LERs facilitate formal leadership assessment and regular feedback between mentor and student. Experience with this process also benefits students wishing to pursue active duty officer careers in which the Officer Evaluation Report (OER) is a required component. Unit Officers may use completed LERs to evaluate students for the purpose of issuing recommendations for internships, special assignments, etc. LERs will be completed using the CG-5310E Ensign OER Form.

The LER process in AUP is intended to facilitate students’ personal leadership development and feedback, not (at this level) to serve as an career evaluation tool. LERs are not to be submitted to the national staff; rather, the staff simply tracks the Unit Officer’s / Reporting Officer’s verification of completion, and does not maintain a history of the LERs’ contents. Actual documentation is to be disposed of on completion in order to protect personal career-sensitive information. AUP and other Coast Guard personnel are not authorized to retain copies of completed LERs.

Reporting Chain

Every member of a unit, including the unit officer, shall have a role and responsibility in the leadership evaluation process, known as the LER reporting chain. The roles of the LER Reporting Chain are explained below.

Reported-On Member (ROM)

ROMs shall complete a List of Accomplishments (LOA) detailing their activities throughout the year, relating to each of the 18 areas of evaluation on the LER. ROMs shall also complete blocks 1 and 2 of the LER. The LOA and the requisite blocks shall be completed, annually, no later than 20 March.

Drafter

Drafters shall complete blocks 3 through 8 of the LER form, annually, no later than 30 April, taking into account the ROM’s LOA and their observations of the ROMs performance. Drafters should be members who work frequently and closely with the ROM, such as the Unit Officer, Unit Leader, or Flotilla Commander.

Reporting Officer

Reporting Officers shall complete blocks 10 and 11 of the LER, annually, no later than 31 May. Once all LERs in the unit are completed, the Reporting Officers shall report which members have or have not completed the annual process to the Branch Chief for Program Management. Generally, the Reporting Officer will be a member’s Unit Officer. A student may have a National Staff member fulfill this role if the student is a national student officer or interning on the AUP National Staff. In this case, the proposed reporting officer should be a National Staff member with whom the student works regularly and who could reflect on the ROM’s abilities and potential better than the local unit officer because of that working relationship. If the student intends to have a National Staff member serve in this role, the student should notify both the unit officer and intended National Staff member in writing at the initiation of the process. In cases of senior student leaders, a Reporting Officer will complete the entirety of the form as the evaluator.