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Cadet KPIs & Annual Survey
Key Downloads
Survey Preview, 2025
Summary of Findings - Coming in April
Webinar (video recording) - Coming in April
The Annual Cadet Survey supports the CAP cadet community in understanding and improving how we serve cadets. It is a key component of our comprehensive monitoring and evaluation initiative, alongside the Key Performance Indicators (Cadet KPIs) and compliance inspections.
Why does CAP conduct an Annual Cadet Survey?
Why does CAP monitor "Key Performance Indicators"?Simple: So we can learn how to serve cadets better.
Objectives of the 2025 Annual Cadet Survey:
1. Learn about cadets’ positive and negative developmental experiences in CAP. This work is accomplished mostly in Section 3, which presents the “Youth Experiences Survey 2.0,” developed at the University of Illinois Urban-Champaign.
2. Evaluate the proper implementation of key standards (e.g., CPP, Wingman) at the local level and determine if CAP is meeting parents' expectations regarding the safety and positive leadership of their cadets.
3. Inquire of cadet staff’s sense of empowerment as leaders. This will establish a baseline against which we can assess initiatives such as “Lead 2 Change.”
4. Solicit feedback on cadet life using open-ended qualitative methods to capture evidence of organizational culture and the impact of the program in general.
Key Facts: Annual Cadet Survey
Invited Participants: All cadets aged 13 and older*, parents, and adult leaders (all CC, CD, CP, AE, HC, & CDI positions), are invited to participate via an email.
Mandate: The survey is completely voluntary. Nobody is required to participate. Nobody will know who chose to participate and who chose to opt-out.
Confidentiality: The survey is strictly anonymous.
Period: The survey is open from 18 February through 15 March 2025
Versions: All three audiences receive the same basic survey, but some of the questions are adjusted slightly to match the audience.
Sequencing: Commanders and region and wing DCPs will receive an advance copy of the survey on 12 February 2025 for sake of awareness. On Tuesday, 18 February, the cadets, parents, and adult leaders will receive invitations to participate via email.
Findings: We will share a summary of findings via a webinar on Tuesday, 8 April, at 7pm Eastern. Watch this space for a link.
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* Federal regulations restrict online services directed at children under age 13.
Annual Cadet Survey Archives
2020 Summary
2021 Summary
2022 Summary
2023 Summary
2024 Summary
Program evaluation is not an exercise in "Gotcha!" but an effort to learn what's working and how to serve cadets better.
CAP says it develops young people into aerospace leaders, but is that actually so?
Because we care about the cadets, we need to evaluate how well the Cadet Program is performing. While performance metrics will be useful as we try to attract donors, their main purpose is to help us learn what’s working and how to serve cadets better. Program evaluation is not an exercise in “Gotcha!” but an effort to improve cadet life.
Today, we are mostly a compliance-centered culture. Our IGs check adherence to regulations. That’s important work, but a unit could be in full compliance and wholly ineffective at making a difference for cadets or America.
The National Commander has endorsed the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) linked below. If CP leaders begin paying attention to them, we will naturally do better for the cadets. We will be measuring what’s truly important, and that’s the work most apt to get done.
Primary Resource
Supporting Resources
Cadet Metrics - White paper offering context for the Cadet KPIs (document was published prior to the KPIs being approved)
CAPVA 60-109 Cadet Program Logic Model
