Some problems can have large impacts, and still go unnoticed by the public and policymakers. ASWB’s racist exams for social work licensure are a great example. When people learn of the problems with social work exams, they tend to be rightly horrified. But most people don’t know about the problem. A letter to the editor … Read more
Regular readers here know that when it comes to clinical exams for mental health licensure, I’m not a fan. A recent article of mine, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Mental Health and Clinical Psychology, tackles a key component of the legal underpinning for these exams. As I explain, despite the claims of exam developers, … Read more
The California Board of Behavioral Sciences will discuss clinical exams this Friday. My colleague Tony Rousmaniere and I decided to dig into these exams, beyond just the horrifying report ASWB released this summer. (TLDR: Wildly disparate passing rates by race/ethnicity.) While I’m previously on record as not a fan of clinical exams, they’re widely accepted. … Read more
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has written to social work boards across the country, urging them to pause the use of ASWB social work licensing exams.
Two of the most frequent questions to come up in social media groups for therapists involve licensing exams: What is the pass rate for [a specific license exam]? And, What is the passing score? Passing scores and pass rates are both good questions, and it’s easy to confuse them. Sometimes people ask one when they … Read more