How diversity politics undermined federal air traffic control skills-based testing

In December 2013, thousands of students who had participated in the FAA's Collegiate Training Initiative-a program specifically designed to prepare individuals to become Air Traffic Control Specialists-were informed that their previous scores on a cognitive and skills-based test-known as the AT-SAT-would be discounted.

What the program graduates did not know is that only 14% of them would pass this new biographical questionnaire, despite half of them having previously passed the skills-based test and met all of the FAA pre-qualifications to be referred on the next step to becoming Air Traffic Control Specialists.

The lawsuit uncovered a years-long plan by the FAA to diversify the pool of Air Traffic Control Specialists after the barrier analysis concluded that minority candidates were hindered by the cognitive test.

Increasing diversity in the FAA workforce has long been a focus of administrators, but the efforts were spearheaded during the Obama administration by the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees, whose earliest advocacy to the FAA on diversifying air traffic control dates back to at least 2008, the class action lawsuit shows.

In 2012, after letters from the NBCFAE and meetings with its outside partners, the FAA conducted a barrier analysis of the Air Traffic Control Specialist hiring process to find ways to promote more diverse hiring.

In the same period that the FAA civil rights division conducted its reviews and called the AT-SAT into question, an FAA-commissioned study found that CTI program graduates achieved certification as air traffic controllers at a rate much higher than recruits coming from other pools of applicants.

According to the lawsuit, the questionnaire eliminated over 85% of the CTI-educated candidates for air traffic control positions, despite these very candidates being the most likely to succeed according to the FAA's own studies, regardless of whether they had already passed the AT-SAT. Sean Nation, the Deputy General Counsel of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, which is representing Brigida and others in the class action, told Just the News prioritizing the biographical questionnaire over the AT-SAT assessment was "Intended to alter the racial makeup of the hiring pool" of Air Traffic Control Specialists.

What lengths will the FAA go to to bring diversity to its ranks? According to the plan, it will "Reevaluate the skills" needed for an FAA employee and "Refine the interview process," to meet its hiring goals.

The FAA did not answer questions from Just the News about the past implementation of the biographical survey, its current diversity plans, or about how the current air traffic controller application works.

In a statement, the FAA told Just the News that "[one] of FAA's top priorities is hiring more air traffic controllers, one of the most highly specialized and skilled professions in the federal government.

"The FAA is filling every seat at the Air Traffic Controller Academy, expanding advanced training across the country, and working with aeronautical colleges and universities to move graduates quickly to on-the-job training. We are also working to enhance the Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative Program to ensure graduates have the skills to immediately begin on-the-job training at a facility.  Upon graduation, graduates can be placed directly into air traffic facilities," the agency said.

Under the safety section, the FAA achievement list does not mention Air Traffic Control Specialists or any efforts taken to address recent near-disasters at the agency.