DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

U. S. ARMY COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF SCHOOL

100 STIMSON AVENUE
FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 66027-2301

REPLY TO
ATTENTION OF:

ATZL-LSG

3 December 2015

SUBJECT: Guidance for AY17 Command and General Staff Officer Course (CGSOC)

1. General. This document provides guidance for development of the CGSOC AY17
course design, curriculum, and delivery schedule to include Common Core, Advanced
Operations Course (AOC), and Electives.
2. CGSS Mission and Outcomes. The Command and General Staff School (CGSS)
educates and trains field grade level leaders to be agile, innovative, and adaptive, who
can build teams and lead organizations under mission command to conduct land
operations in Unified Action while in complex and uncertain environments.
a. To accomplish this mission, the CGSOC curriculum must meet Joint Professional
Military Education (JPME) 1 objectives, educate Joint and Army doctrine, develop
leaders understanding of organizational leadership rooted in ethical decisions, and
have foundations of historical reference that enable our students to connect the past to
the future.
b. To create agile, innovative, and adaptive leaders the CGSOC will focus on using
facilitated class time to discuss the application of the material the students must study to
prepare for the classes. We want to use learning activities that stretch conceptual skills
and enable creativity. Our goal is to improve our students ability to think critically and
creatively, improve their communication skills, both oral and written, and expand their
professional knowledge base. This will enable them to operate in a complex and
increasingly dangerous global environment at the operational and tactical level.
c. Enclosure 1, CGSOC Outcomes and Terminal Learning Objectives, describes the
attributes and competencies of the students we are producing. We will use these
objectives to develop curriculum and assess our students capabilities to apply the
material they are learning in the course. It is vital we assess our students on their ability
to do not just know the material content. This means they must understand the
material and be able to apply their newly gained knowledge to create viable solutions to
very complex problem sets.
d. We must assist our students transition from company grade officers to field grade
level leaders who are thinking with a broader perspective to create and preserve options
for their command. Due to the current experience levels, we must assist our students to

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SUBJECT: Planning Guidance for AY 17 Command and General Staff Officer Course
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connect the dots in the course content they are learning and why this knowledge is
relevant and useful to them as leaders.
3. CGSS Directors Assessment. The current curriculum and design is an exceptional
series of independent blocks of instruction presenting a great deal of information. These
course blocks are not well integrated nor deliberately supporting.
a. Each block attempts to reach the stated terminal learning objectives through a
well-organized presentation of the material within the block. However, the independent
blocks of instruction, when combined to execute as a complete course, provide too
much lesson material and demands too many requirements preventing the students
adequate time to reflect on the content or absorb the information in a retainable manner
to apply after graduation.
b. Therefore, we must design and prioritize the curriculum to gain a deeper
understanding of the fundamentals and critical information our students will require to
be successful over the next five to eight years. We should not strive to provide every
piece of knowledge they will need, but focus on developing the foundational principles
and doctrine while inspiring them to be self-directed learners so that our students have
the skills and motivation to continue learning well after graduation.
4. Responsibilities. Although by design, this will affect our ability to integrate thoroughly
our material, we will continue to organize the CGSOC curriculum into clearly defined
blocks to allow the departments to provide subject matter expertise of the content. While
CGSS has overall responsibility and oversight of the content and organization of the
CGSOC, the teaching departments (Department of Tactics (DTAC), Department of
Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Operations (DJIMO), Department of Command and
Leadership (DCL), Department of Military History (DMH), and Department of Logistics
and Resource Operations (DLRO)) are the proponents responsible for the following
areas as defined by the current blocks of instruction:
a. Common Core.
C100: CGSS Operations with Department lesson authoring support.
C200, C300 and C500: DJIMO with DLRO and sister service elements
integrating content and activities.
C400: DTAC with DLRO and sister service elements integrating content and
activities.
L100, E100: DCL
H100: DMH
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F100: DLRO
B100 and MC systems: DLDC
b. Advanced Operations Course.
O100: DJIMO
O200,O300: DTAC
L200: DCL
H200, H300: DMH
K200: DLRO
S400: SOF
5. Guidance. Departments will address the following guidance on specific topics and
areas of study in the CGSOC design solutions presented at the Post Instructional
Conference (PIC) and Mini-PICs. We will include these Common Core, AOC, and
electives design solutions as we synchronize the course via the scheduling process.
a. Faculty and Facilitation. The Faculty is the CGSS center of gravity (COG) and
expected to provide the best facilitation of the class that they can while demanding a
high standard of our students and themselves. Our students, as a product of the
CGSOC, will only be as good as our faculty is.
(1) As Departments develop the courseware, they must ensure that their faculty
can deliver the instruction as designed to achieve the outcomes and learning objectives.
Lesson plans must have the flexibility in execution of the lesson to allow alterations to
increase relevancy and improve student success in meeting the objectives without
lowering the standard. This does not mean the individual faculty member has the
authority to teach whatever they want. The intent is to capitalize on the years of
experience our faculty members have educating our students in a manner that makes a
connection with their staff group and truly facilitates the learning.
(2) Blended Learning (Flipping the Classroom). To get to higher levels of learning
with less class time CGSS has slowly adapted the flipped classroom for some lessons.
Flipping is where students get exposure to material outside of class: readings, lecture
videos, slides, CBIs, etc. The concept requires students to learn basic concepts on their
own before spending class time engaging with more advanced topics. This enables the
faculty to focus the facilitated time on activities that encourage students to process and
apply principles via participatory activities. We want to optimize homework and prep
requirements so that we focus the hours of contact time on those activities that help to
synthesize the lessons and develop critical and creative thinking. This does not mean
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simply adding more readings to the prep time. CGSS needs to continue the integration
of this methodology and conduct faculty development on this concept as well as new
teaching practices and course design methods.
(3) Faculty Development Program (FDP). As the COG, we must pay attention to
our faculty development as the key to increasing our ability to accomplish our mission.
To do this, we will increase our FDP beyond what the college and departments are
already undertaking with the following actions:
(a) We will schedule an FDP 4 topic once a month for all faculty to attend.
With the exception of certain FDPs that will have guest facilitators/speakers, we will
provide the same FDP topic twice a month as the battle rhythm scheduling directs on
the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. Departments will monitor the attendance of
their faculty.
(b) CGSS will initially schedule the following FDP topics with the lead
department responsible for coordinating and developing the FDP block:
Date
Feb 16

Department
DCL

Mar 16
Apr 16
May 16
Jun 16
Jul 16
Aug 16
Sep 16
Oct 16

DJIMO
DLRO
DTAC
DMH
DOET
DTAC
DDE

Topic
Ethics (enable embedded ethics ELOs in other than
Leadership instruction)
Facilitating Adult Learning
Test Design
Army Operating Concept / Army Warfighting Challenges
None scheduled
Providing Student Feedback
Advanced Black Board
MilBook/Mil Suite
Distance learning tools/methodology to facilitate individual
learning

(c) We will initiate the first FDP 4 in Feb 16.

(d) Each department will recommend additional FDP 4 topics to the Chief of
Curriculum NLT 1 Jun 16 for future FDP 4s.
(4) In some instances, students have performed as the lead instructor for
CGSOC lessons. Students will instruct only when the approved block design requires it
(e.g. Service capabilities lessons). Students that possess specific subject matter
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expertise may serve as an assistant instructor with oversight from the primary faculty
upon approval of the Department Director. The intent is that students are not substitutes
for our instructors but are able to enhance their peer learning as augmentation based on
their subject matter expertise for specific lessons.
(5) Sister Services and Interagency. CGSC has exceptional sister service
elements and agency support for CGSOC that provide the school with dedicated
professional expertise. The CGSC sister service elements do not have the resources to
provide total coverage of all of the CGSOC venues or academic requirements with
current TDA authorizations. As a result, the scheduling and conduct of focused classes
are inconsistent and require the leveraging of students to perform as facilitators. The
service elements are responsible for ensuring that student facilitators meet the lesson
delivery standards. A DJIMO faculty will be in the classroom whenever a sister service
student is teaching.
(6) Master Instructor Program. Department Directors will schedule to brief their
Master Instructor Program to the Director, CGSS NLT 1 FEB16. The intent is to
understand how the departments monitor and determine the quality of our instruction.
b. Curriculum. We must design the curriculum to advance our students ability to
think critically and creatively while improving their communication skills, both oral and
written, and broaden their perspectives by increasing their professional knowledge
base. A detailed review of the current content is required as we have too much material
to be effective at achieving these goals.
(1) While we will introduce the strategic context and develop the understanding of
the implications our operations have at the strategic level, we must focus our curriculum
at the operational and tactical level of warfare.
(2) We must develop the curriculum to a manageable load. Departments will
prioritize or rank order all subjects and lessons. Tier 1 subjects, are those required by
law or a regulation/directive (must know). Tier 2 subjects, while not required by a
directive, are supportive of tier 1 and expand the officers education (should know). Tier
3 subjects are desired subjects but not essential (useful to know for deeper
understanding). Each department will be prepared to justify their prioritization and
further explain the level of learning and the amount of time required to teach the
material. The intent is have a system to increase or decrease tiered level material due
to available teaching time and manage the student and faculty workloads across the
whole course.
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SUBJECT: Planning Guidance for AY 17 Command and General Staff Officer Course
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(3) Departments will review the need for subjects or events added over time that
are not linked to a documented requirement, (examples: ethics, media panel, certain
resiliency training, negotiations, contracting) and propose their elimination or a method
to incorporate the pertinent subject matter into other instruction blocks. Departments will
determine if there are blocks or themes requiring lesson restructure to achieve our
CGSOC outcomes more effectively. All should recognize that a single block does not
create critical, agile, or adaptive thinkers alone, but each block must contribute to that
end state.
(4) All departments will critically review student preparation time and the time to
conduct block requirements/assessments. Our calculations on the amount of time
required are misaligned with the feedback we are receiving from the students. In an
effort to allow for more reflection and deeper thinking, we will reduce the number of
requirements and better manage the assessment loads.
(5) DTAC and DJIMO will determine a way to increase dialogue and critical
thinking in the tactics and Joint operations blocks. DTAC and DJIMO must be prepared
to demonstrate how our lessons achieve this in the AIS process.
(6) DJIMO and DTAC will determine and demonstrate where we can increase
cyber and interagency subject matter into our Core and AOC lessons and exercises as
appropriate. Both of these areas are becoming increasingly important with greater
impacts on our operations and the outcomes of our actions. We must be able to adapt
our curriculum to provide our students greater perspective and knowledge in these
areas.
(7) DLRO will determine how to reduce, delete, consolidate, or incorporate K200
instruction into other applicable blocks. We will not dedicate a full week of instruction in
the AY17 curriculum to this contracting material.
(8) DCL will consolidate the pertinent ethics block material (E100) into the L100
and L200 instruction. Ethics is not limited to only the leadership instruction. Lesson
authors should incorporate ethics content into applicable blocks of instruction within
each department. Department directors will determine which blocks an ethics related
enabling learning objective (ELO) is applicable and ensure the lesson plans cover in the
appropriate detail. Departments will specifically brief where they added these ethics
ELOs during the Mini-PICs and PICs.
(9) Each department will review their blocks of instruction and make
recommendations for areas we could make as part of the preparation prior to arrival.
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We will not dramatically increase these requirements; however, we should understand

where there is possible merit to self-study of certain online content or courses that adds
flexibility or options to reduce contact time. Departments will submit recommendations
during the AIS process.
(10) Each department will be prepared to demonstrate what additional instruction
to add, i.e. Tier 2 or 3 level options, if the Deputy Commandant (DC) or Commanding
General, Combined Arms Center (CG, CAC) decides to authorize additional contact
hours.
(11) Scenarios. The CGSOC must provide scenarios that address the security
environment trends, conventional and unconventional powers, and other challenges of
the Joint Operating Environment.
(a) Departments will review scenarios and develop possible options to
include the following: Area/Access denial, Force entry operations, NEO, Cyber,
WMD/CBRNE, Disease-Pandemic, Human Rights Abuses, Media Impacts, and AsiaPacific problem sets.
(b) This guidance is not directing that departments address every one of
these options for addition to the scenarios; however, our curriculum must be relevant
and agile enough to add these current issues.
c. Branch and Warfighting Function Time. DTAC, DJIMO, and DLRO will develop
curriculum to support the reestablishment of Branch specific and Warfighting Function
education and training into the curriculum. The intent is to enter the exercise periods in
AOC with our students at a higher knowledge base for their specific duties associated
with their branches and warfighting functions.
(1) Curriculum developers will create this program with input from all departments.
See Enclosure 2 for initial areas of responsibility. Departments are encouraged to
coordinate and refine these initially designated areas for the optimal solutions for
responsibility. Backbrief Director, CGSS for approval of changes.
(2) DTAC will be lead department for Branch time and DJIMO will be lead
responsible for Warfighting Function time (including Joint Warfighting Functions). Each
department will develop recommendations on how to execute and what to instruct in
these periods. The curriculum will include instruction at the Joint, Division, and Brigade
level.
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(3) DTAC and DJIMO will prepare a 20-hour and a 12-hour option for instruction.
Other options are open for consideration based on the departments assessment of how
much material needs to be covered. Courses of Action must include outlines for the
content of the instruction.
(4) The intent is also to reduce the amount of instruction required in AOC to
produce the products for the exercises since the students should gain a deeper
understanding of their roles prior to the exercise starts during this branch and functional
specific instruction. The Chief of Curriculum will schedule these approved periods
following Core before AOC begins.
d. Scheduling. This guidance will clearly affect the design of the curriculum;
therefore, it is imperative for all departments to understand the guidance and intent to
synchronize the course components. When taking into account contact time, reflection
periods, and time required preparing for classes or doing assignments, every day of the
CGSOC is a full academic day. This mandates that CGSS have efficient design and
management processes to meet known and unknown requirements. Given time and
other resource constraints, to include competing demands, it is imperative we adhere to
a consistent and predictable scheduling model. The objectives of the scheduling
directives listed below are to minimize negative effects of over scheduling on the
students and faculty while preventing disruption to the outcome achievement of the
course. The scheduling design parameters are:
(1) The academic day will be comprised of no more than 4 hours facilitated
contact time for non-exercise sessions.
(2) Exercises will be noted as such and have no more than 6 hours of scheduled
contact time per day.
(3) Block designs may schedule select Sister Service classes for 6 hours with
approval by the CGSS Director (i.e. if block authors determine the Navy and Marine
capability classes are three hours each, they may be schedule on the same day as a 6hour block on a single day).
(4) Guest speakers and special events do not count within the four-hour contact
time per day. The Chief of Curriculum will schedule guest speaker time as a two-hour
period to include 30 minutes for staff group discussion in accordance with the Guest
Speaker Program (GSP) guidance stated in a subsequent section.

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SUBJECT: Planning Guidance for AY 17 Command and General Staff Officer Course
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(5) Outside activities (e.g. guest speakers) added after the schedule is approved
as final will primarily be absorbed into the day. For example: If it is a 4 hour day and a
speaker is scheduled on short notice, it turns into a 6 hour day rather than moving
classes to the next or future days.
(6) For predictability and more balanced faculty preparation time, the schedule will
continue to have parallel (i.e. L100/L200, H100/200/300, F100) instruction days on
Mondays and Fridays. We will avoid, to the maximum extent possible, scheduling nonparallel classes and non-parallel class requirement due dates on designated parallel
class days. As we do not take most training holidays, this should have minimal impact
but we will adjust these parallel courses as applicable for holidays that do affect the
schedule. The Chief of Curriculum will schedule MMAS class periods on Monday and
Thursday afternoons.
(7) The schedule will generally provide for one hour of pre-instruction preparation
for each hour of facilitated class (1:1 ratio prep/contact). CGSS will schedule Student
Prep Time to prevent over scheduling. The proponent department will determine
requisite prep time for lessons and receive approval in the AIS process. The Chief of
Curriculum and Academics are responsible for synchronizing the load across the
department blocks in conjunction with the department curriculum developers.
(8) Scheduling Battle Rhythm Events. For synchronization, we will dedicate and
block time for the routine meetings/events. Departments wanting to schedule other
activities during these dedicated times will require approval from CGSS to prevent
meeting conflicts for attendees.
Meeting
CGSS Directors
Dir, CGSS w/Team Leaders
Department /Division Dir
Team Leader Time
FDP 2
FDP 4
Know Your World Events
MMAS
Fall/Winter Electives

Day
1st & 3rd Monday
2nd & 4th Monday
1st & 3rd Tuesday
2nd & 4th Tuesday
1st & 3rd Wednesday
2nd & 4th Wednesday
Thursday
Monday / Thursday
Monday / Thursday

Time
1330-1500
1500-1630
1300-1600
1400-1530
1400-1600
1400-1600
1330-1530
1530-1700
1500-1700

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SUBJECT: Planning Guidance for AY 17 Command and General Staff Officer Course
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(9) The Chief of Curriculum will schedule non-CGSOC special events, which
include or expect CGSOC student and/or faculty involvement, after staffed through
CGSS for approval by the Deputy Commandant six weeks in advance.
(10) CGSS will schedule department in-class exams as contact time during that
departments block of instruction. Out-of-class assessments are due NLT the last day
of the department block.
(11) All academic schedule changes are coordinated through the Chief of
Curriculum for approval and distribution. Team Leaders retain the authority to
coordinate and make class changes within an academic day with Division Chiefs
approval.
(12) CGSS will schedule the final 30 minutes of each block of instruction as inclass survey time.
e. The Army Operating Concept. Our faculty must be agile enough to include rapidly
developing Army doctrine into the curriculum. This spring, TRADOC will publish updates
and detailed doctrine further defining the Army Operating Concept for application at
various levels. All departments must include this latest doctrine into the curriculum.
(1) CGSS will designate The Army Operating Concept as required reading prior
to attending CGSOC for the initial block of C100.
(2) DJIMO and DTAC must include the Army Operating Concept doctrine in their
blocks of instruction. Departments will highlight these specific instruction locations in the
curriculum in the Mini-PICs and PICs.
(3) The Army Operating Concept introduced the Army Warfighting Challenges
(AWFCs) to provide an analytical framework that integrates efforts across warfighting
functions while collaborating with key stakeholders in learning activities, modernization,
and future force design. C100 will use the AWFCs as a framework to initiate the
development of our students thinking and communicating skills.
(4) DMH and DLRO will develop three COAs that have our students develop
solutions to the AWFCs as part of a larger Army-wide effort to improve future land
power capabilities for the Joint Force. Intent is for the departments to form a team of
faculty with representation from every department, including the CGSS Chief of
Academics, to complete this task while gaining faculty input. The departments will brief
their COA recommendations to the Dir, CGSS the week of 18 JAN with a decision brief
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to the DC the week of 25 JAN. The overall concept is that each staff group (SG)
develops a 15-25 page solution for an AWFC in the form of a research paper. COAs
must include the following elements at a minimum:
(a) How the topics are assigned/selected to ensure not all SGs are writing on
the same topic.
(b) Develop a minimum of one COA timeline with paper due at end of AOC.
(c) Develop a minimum of one COA with paper due at end of Core.
(d) What research methodology classes are required for this project (similar
to MMAS but perhaps not as much detail).
(e) Develop a faculty lead for the execution of the project, i.e. the SGA is the
overseeing faculty member for the group project or other options.
(f) COAs will include how the project is graded. This can be a pass/fail with a
redo option or we may incorporate it into students GPA. How would these options work
or what would be the best option?
(g) Recommend total time for the project to dedicate on the schedule. This
includes frequency of SG meetings for this task and must consider the facultys ability to
grade within the context of course requirements. The COAs must propose estimated
prep time for students to work on this project and factored into the scheduling to
synchronize with all other assessments/requirements workload.
(h) Explain the advantages and disadvantages for each COA. Develop
assessment criteria, and provide a recommendation.
(i) Close coordination is required with the Chief of Curriculum to ensure the
COAs are feasible with respect to the scheduling/calendar limitations.
f. Assessments. We must hold our students accountable and show evidence of
achievement through quality assessment strategies and practices. With the elevation of
learning levels in the JPME objectives and movement toward a more graduate level
course, CGSOC will have fewer and more comprehensive assessments vice more,
topic focused, quiz-like assessments.
(1) Comprehensive Final Exams.
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(a) DJIMO and DCL will develop three COAs that propose a generally
comprehensive (not perfectly comprehensive) individual exam at the end of Core
period of instruction.
(b) DTAC and DCL will develop three COAs that propose a generally
comprehensive individual exam at the end of the CGSOC. These COAs should include
timing recommendations on the final exams after the AOC block or a time dedicated
during electives providing options on when the faculty administers the test.
(c) Intent for the development of the comprehensive exams is for the
departments to form teams of faculty, including the CGSS Chief of Curriculum, to
complete this task while gaining faculty input on the exam designs. Each exam COA
must have representative input from all departments, as the exams are comprehensive
across all the material.
(d) Comprehensive exam COAs must include how the faculty will test the
students on the exams, written and/or oral, and recommended length of the exams. The
exams will not be solely oral exams. Each COA must define a plan to validate the test in
accordance with TRADOC regulatory guidance.
(e) Comprehensive exam COAs will include the general makeup of the exams
to demonstrate how they are comprehensive of the material. The test questions must
integrate department material; however, not all questions need to assess complete
integration from every department in each question. We are seeking to test the analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation levels of learning. The assessment will measure whether
each individual student meets the CGSOC outcomes.
(f) Comprehensive exam COAs must include how the faculty will assess/grade
the exams and recommend timelines (time required to complete and grade). Direct
coordination is required with the Chief or Curriculum to ensure the COAs are feasible
with respect the scheduling/calendar as these exams will have dedicated time allocated
on the schedule in which only testing will take place for both the Core finals and the
CGSOC final exams.
(g) Recommended Comprehensive exam COAs must account for the
weighting of the final exams in relation to rest of the course assessments and what
feedback the faculty renders to the students.

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(h) Departments developing the final exam COAs will analyze the impacts of
allowing students that fail to meet the standard on final exams a single retest on the
material with a maximum achievable grade of a C. Students that fail the retest will go
through the academic procedures outlined in the current CGSC academic policies.
Departments will brief this analysis to the DC for approval including risk mitigation
measures.
(i) The departments will brief their COA recommendations to the Dir, CGSS
the week of 18 JAN with a decision brief to the Deputy Commandant (DC) the week of
25 JAN.
(2) Departments will clearly layout their recommendations for all assessments and
requirements for each block of instruction during the Mini-PICs and PICs. The intent is
to make a reduction from the current load in order to improve the overall quality of the
products the students create as opposed to quantity of products.
(3) CGSOC assessments must clearly communicate the answer/response
expectations. Surveys, focus groups, and student exam products indicate that the
students regularly exceed the expected effort and requirement by a significant level. For
example, some students write 15 pages for an assessment that should be no more than
five pages. When we use the out-of-class or take-home exam methodology, the exam
must define the expected level of effort and place a clear limit on the answer size. We
want to ensure students thoroughly address the requirement but not to the point of
excess.
(4) In-class and Take-home exams.
(a) DCL and DMH will maintain their current take-home exam/paper format for
L100/L200 and H100/H200.
(b) H300 exam will change to the same format as the H100/H200 papers.
(c) DJIMO, DTAC, and DLRO will review their C200, C300, C400 and F100
block exams. These exams, if departments deem as appropriate upon review, will be inclass exams released at 1230 on the day prior to the due date. CGSS will not schedule
classes during the exam period. Students may take the test in class that morning or
begin the test when they receive it. The intent is to manage the allocated exam time
requiring the students to study more deliberately prior to the test.

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(d) DJIMO will review the C500 Torch exam to determine if we should retain
the test. If deemed to retain, DJIMO will recommend whether to retain as the current
take-home format, change to an in-class exam or a hybrid option.
(e) This guidance helps to synchronize the assessments scheduling, manage
student workloads, and prevent overlapping during transition between the blocks of
instruction. The intent is not to make the CGSOC easier for the students but make it
harder with the added requirement for students to put forth a greater effort to study for
test as opposed to simply looking up answers over an extended period with take-home
exams.
g. Guest Speaker Program (GSP). Guest speakers (GS) are a value added feature
of CGSOC and it is critical to synchronize them into the course design. CGSS and
teaching departments will provide a prioritized list of three guest speakers for their
blocks and/or themes during the AIS process. The request will identify a recommended
timing for each speaker and how the speaker connects and/or supports the content of
the course. Once approved, CGSS will coordinate with the department and the VCO
office to invite the speakers and alternates as needed. Additional guidance includes:
(1) CGSS will plan for a GS to introduce Stewarding the Profession early in
C100. DCL will provide the recommended speakers for this GS opportunity.
(2) We will plan for a Strategic Stage Setter at the beginning of C200. CGSS will
work to get ADM(R) Stavridis for AY17. DJIMO will provide additional recommended
speakers for this GS opportunity should ADM(R) Stavridis be unavailable.
(3) We will plan for a GS at/near the end of C300 or the beginning of C400. CGSS
will seek to lock in LTG McMaster, CG ARCIC for this engagement. If CG, ARCIC is
unavailable, we will seek a four-star or equivalent speaker.
(4) We will include a Division Commander Lecture series in our plan. This allows a
sitting division commanding general to address the class in the Fall, right before or right
after the Thanksgiving Holiday and once in AOC, before the spring break. We will seek
to align the division/JTF perspective with the content in the curriculum at the time of the
engagement.
(5) We will plan one GS option early in the second term of electives to allow an
Army four star general to address the course (CSA, VCSA, CG, TRADOC, CG,
FORSCOM) or the DC provide parting advice to the students.
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(6) Departments will provide recommendations NLT 11 Jan for additional GSs
required by certain periods of instruction, i.e. DJIMO provides speakers that tie into the
Cyber block.
(7) CGSS will provide our holistic GSP for the entire CGSOC to the DC in late
January for his approval.
h. Reading. Course readings are many and diverse. Student survey comments
repeatedly indicate the readings are excessive and not addressed in the classroom or
assignment.
(1) Departments will review and establish fewer, comprehensive readings in next
years curriculum. The intent is that fewer thoroughly discussed and leveraged readings
are better than many readings lightly touched on.
(2) Reading organization is also important. DMH does a superb job of packaging
their readings into an organized electronic format that flows from first use to last. All
departments should look at using a similar method for organizing their readings.
i. Electives. In coordination with the teaching departments and other entities offering
elective courses, CGSS has overall coordination and oversight of the electives program.
Departments will continue to support electives programs and assign a lead Electives
Manager to coordinate with the CGSS Chief of Academics.
(1) Departments will review their elective offerings to select a limited number to
offer in the Fall during Common Core, Sep-Nov, and potentially during AOC, Jan-Mar.
(2) The intent is to explore the feasibility of offering electives earlier for those
students who feel they want a greater intellectual challenge or provide options for
greater attendance in those electives that are very popular and therefore overly
subscribed during the normal Spring electives periods.
(3) We will hold an Elective Offering Review in January for Departments to
present their analysis and determine which electives we will offer earlier next year. We
will present these COAs during the Common Core PIC to the DC for approval.
j. Non-resident CGSOC. A requirement of JPME 1 is that the distance programs
must closely parallel the resident program of instruction.

15

ATZL-LSG
SUBJECT: Planning Guidance for AY 17 Command and General Staff Officer Course
(CGSOC)

(1) Having multiple venues to accommodate the schools distributed student

populations mandates a very structured and rigorous development process. CGSS
educates three times as many students via non-resident instruction vice the resident
and it cannot afford to let the non-resident courseware fall into a state of irrelevance or
obsolescence.
(2) Therefore, the CGSS teaching departments will support the development of
the non-resident courses and faculty development programs for the TASS instructors
with the same level of emphasis as the resident course.
(3) All departments will demonstrate the alterations and/or modifications to the
curriculum to support the Non-resident courses modalities during the Mini-PICs and
PICs.
k. Additional Accountable Instructional System (AIS) Process and Post Instructional
Conference (PIC) Requirements. As we navigate the AIS process, departments will use
all the data sets they have to identify strengths and weakness of their proponent blocks
and the entire CGSOC. Our preparation and analysis for the AIS events is critical.
(1) At the PIC, CGSS will present the entire Common Core and AOC to illustrate
and assess how we delivered the material to the students. It is critical that the each
block clearly articulates the challenges and successes supported by data and evidence
of results. Essentially, we want to lay out what happened this year and discuss how well
we achieved our stated outcomes. Departments will define where we exceed JPME 1
level of learning standards as applicable.
(2) Following the presentation of the "what happened this year and our
assessments, each department will lay out their proposals for changes and the rationale
for changes we are seeking approval for in the AY17 curriculum. Departments will
clearly identify what they are removing or modifying in the AY17 curriculum. The intent
is to show clearly what we are reducing or adding. We must demonstrate the impacts of
these modifications and risks or risk mitigations associated with the approval of the
proposed curriculum.
(3) We must be able to demonstrate in the PIC how instruction is reaching our
target audience of students, i.e. the average student.
(4) We will produce a menu of options for the DC or CG, CAC to choose from for
additional instruction in the curriculum should they approve 25 or 50 hours beyond the 4
hour per day contact time.
16

ATZL-LSG
SUBJECT: Planning Guidance for AY 17 Command and General Staff Officer Course
(CGSOC)

(5) CGSS will include the Scholars programs in this years AOC PICs.
6. Point of contact for this guidance is the undersigned or Mr. Daniel Ward, CGSS, 913684-7302.

CARDINALE.DOUGLAS.CR
AIG.1071498073

Digitally signed by CARDINALE.DOUGLAS.CRAIG.1071498073

DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=DoD, ou=PKI, ou=USA,
cn=CARDINALE.DOUGLAS.CRAIG.1071498073
Date: 2015.12.03 09:29:35 -06'00'

DOUGLAS C. CARDINALE
COL, IN
Director, Command & General Staff School

2 Encls.
1. CGSOC Outcomes and Terminal Learning Objectives
2. Branch and Warfighting Function Responsibilities

17

Enclosure 1. CGSOC Outcomes and Terminal Learning Objectives

Enclosure 2. Branch and Warfighting Function Responsibilities

DTAC
Infantry (11)
Aviation (15)
Armor (19)
Engineer (12)
Military Police (31)
Chemical (74)
Field Artillery (13)
Air Defense Artillery (14)
DJIMO
Military Intelligence (35)
FA34 - Strategic Intel
Signal (25)
FA24 -Telecomm Systems Engineer
FA53 - Info Systems Management
FA48 - Foreign Area Officer
FA30- Information Operations
FA46 - Public Affairs
FA40 - Space OPS
FA49 - OPS Research & Systems Analysis
FA52 - Nuclear and Counter proliferation
FA57 - Simulation OPS
FA59 Strategist

Army Warfighting Functions

Mission Command - DTAC
Movement and Maneuver - DTAC
Intelligence - DJIMO
Fires - DTAC
Sustainment - DLRO
Protection - DJIMO

Cyber Branch
FA29 Electronic Warfare
DLRO
Force Sustainment Division (FSD)
Transportation (88)
Ordnance (91)
Quartermaster (92)
Adjutant General (42)
Finance (36)
Acquisition (51)
Medical Corps
Dental Corps
Veterinary Corps
Nurse Corps
Medical Specialist
Medical Service
FA50 - Force Management
FA47 - Academy Professor
SOF
Special Forces (18)
PSYOP (37)
Civil Affairs (38)