One of the requirements for the Navy ROTC Scholarship is an evaluation and written narrative from a teacher and second teacher, counselor, coach or employer. We explain the significance of these evaluations, how you’re being evaluated, and four ways to improve your evaluations.

The Significance of your Navy ROTC Scholarship Teacher Evaluations   

Your Navy ROTC scholarship teacher evaluations count for about 15% of the overall scholarship point total and consists of the numerical point total and a board score evaluation of the teacher comments.

The Criteria for Evaluation

In the evaluation that the teacher will receive, he/she will be asked to rate the candidate on a 1-10 scale and provide comments in the following areas:

• Team player/engaged
• Communication
• Initiative
• Innovation
• Toughness
• Leadership/followership
• Character

Here are the specific descriptions for each area above your evaluators will use when rating you in your Navy ROTC scholarship teacher evaluations:

Team Player/Engaged

How the individual functions in a group setting, putting the group’s goals ahead of their personal goals. Actively engaged with their activities, organizations and groups, not passive participants. Seek out mentorship and feedback and give back to the organizations they are members of. Seeks and builds connectedness.

Communication

Demonstrates the ability to express oneself effectively in individual or group situations including gestures and other forms of nonverbal communication.

Initiative

Recognizing deficiencies, taking action to correct them, and taking accountability for the results. Making lasting improvements to process.

Innovation

Innovation is the creation of a new idea, method, or device. Innovation is present when a candidate shows evidence of problem solving or finding new ways to do old things. Many students may be innovative in the way they work and not know it.

Toughness

The ability to thrive in any conditions. Demonstrates an ability to see difficult tasks through to completion and handle setbacks and stress. Accepts responsibility for their actions. Reflects on and learns from experiences. Has a culture of physical fitness.

Leadership/Followership

Leadership is developing others and helping them reach their potential. Leaders enable teams to think more clearly, learn more rapidly and make better decisions faster and more accurately than our adversaries. Followership is the intentional practice on the part of the subordinate to enhance the performance of teams and achieve organizational objectives through interchange between the follower and the leader.

Character

Demonstrates integrity, accountability and professionalism. Has a solid understanding of what is right and possesses a foundational character that inspires trust and can be built upon to support the Navy’s core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.

1. Your Teachers are Evaluating your Character

Within the Navy ROTC scholarship teacher evaluations, what you will notice is that many of the evaluation categories have nothing to do directly with the candidate’s ability in math, science or other subjects.  Rather, Navy ROTC is asking for the teacher to evaluate leadership and character.  The higher the numerical score, the more points a candidate receives.

2. Get to Know Your Teachers

It is imperative that you seek out teachers or other evaluators who can effectively write substantive commentary on your evaluative areas.   If your teacher does not know you very well outside of class, you will want to give him/her examples of things you have done in and out of class that demonstrate how you excel in these evaluated areas (Team Player/Engaged, Communication, Initiative, Innovation, Toughness, Leadership/Followership, Character).

3. Ask Your Teachers to Include Comments

The online evaluation form also gives the teacher an opportunity to comment on academic areas not covered in the other evaluated areas.  This is where the teacher can go into more detail on candidate’s academic performance in class.    We have several examples of well written academic evaluations and recommendations for Navy ROTC, Navy ROTC Nurse, and Navy ROTC Marine Corps Option.  

4. Ask Your Teachers for Their Support in Advance

If you plan ahead and let your teachers know the areas you will be evaluated on and give them examples of your leadership, you will be well ahead of your competitors in obtaining a Navy ROTC scholarship.  In fact, we recommend that you give your teachers this blog post to read before they fill out their evaluation!

We wish you the best as you prepare to serve your country as a Navy or Marine Corps officer.