The Veterans Benefits Administration is increasing required annual training for veterans-service representatives to 80 hours, Michael Walcoff, VBA’s associate deputy undersecretary for field operations said in recent testimony before the House subcommittee on disability assistance.
Newly hired VSRs follow a 23-week national standardized training curriculum in their regional home offices, but continued low pass rates on certification tests have led the VBA to increase the number of hours of required job-specific training for service reps and rating specialists charged with adjudicating claims from 70 this year to 80 in fiscal 2007, Walcoff announced.
He said that while just 25 percent of the 298 participants passed the first test — a 100-question multiple-choice, open-book exam – administered in 2003, that VBA remained confident in the quality of the test and since the introduction of a 20-hour prep course, the pass rate has increased to 42 percent as of last June.
Passing the test certifies VSRs for promotion to the full-performance GS-11 level.
