Basic skills training in the United States Navy has become increasingly important as the quality of the recruit population has declined and the job demands faced by enlisted personnel have expanded. This training is aimed at that group of recruits who cannot read well enough to be successful in service schools. The Navy first initiated programs designed to remedy academic deficiencies in its personnel during World War II, but an official policy on remedial training in basic skills was not issued until 1978. At that time several preexisting programs were given official sanction, including one, Academic Remedial Training (ART), which has been operating at each of the Navy's three recruit training centers since 1967. ART provides instruction in basic reading and study skills, as well as in verbal skills, using a standardized curriculum and testing plan. The population served by ART has consisted of those recruits who score below 6.0 reading grade level (RGL) in reading comprehension on a screening test and recruits with higher RGL scores who experience academic difficulty during recruit training. Beginning with the 1985 fiscal year, any recruit reading below the 8.0 RGL will be enrolled in the program. An analysis of the Navy recruit population for the 1981-83 fiscal years found about 3.6% reading at or below the 6.0 RGL. The principal criterion that has been used to evaluate ART is the percentage of attrition among students assigned to the program. By that standard the ART program has been highly successful in remediating recruit deficiencies, with course completion rates ranging from nearly 92% in 1981 to 97% in 1983. (RBW)