It’s Time To Talk About Licensure - What Do We Know and What Do We Do Next & New Op-Ed Toolkit

By Jordan Freeman, LMSW-Clinical, NASW-Michigan Work Force Program Manager 

When was the last time you thought about the ASWB licensure exam? Maybe when you were cleaning out your office and found the exam study guide? Maybe it’s been even longer than that - perhaps you haven’t thought about it again since you passed it, took an L off your LLMSW or LLBSW signature and started focusing on the continuing education requirements associated with your full licensure. Or maybe you think about it often as you’ve been studying and are about to take it for the first time - or for yet another time? 

Regardless of when you last crossed paths with this exam and the licensure process in Michigan, it’s time to take a critical look at the exam itself and the statistics related to passage rates that the ASWB published for the first time in 2022. The document itself is quite dense but is available to view at https://www.aswb.org/exam/contributing-to-the-conversation. 

Some quick numbers though - specifically for the state of Michigan, when looking at the clinical exam between 2011-2021 white test takers had a 73.7% first-time pass rate compared to 28.2% for Black test takers and 52.8% for Hispanic/Latino test takers. Multiracial test takers had 67.9%, Native American/Indigenous peoples had 57.1% and Asian test takers had 65.5%. The gaps don’t close by much when looking at evental pass rates instead - between 2011-2021 White test takers had an 89.2% eventual pass rate and Black social workers had a 51.1% eventual pass rate with other racial/ethnic groups falling in between. Age is another category where we see major discrepancies in pass rates. For social workers aged 18-29, 71.7% pass at first attempt and 89.8% pass eventually. Pass rates go down as the test taker ages with social workers 50 and older having a first time pass rate of 51.5% and an eventual pass rate of 63.2%. And then, finally, when social workers who don’t speak English as their first language we see a 38% first time pass rate and a 60.2% eventual pass rate.

Most social workers can agree that no one wants to water down our credentials or replace one problematic measure with another but that tension cannot paralyze us from taking action. Thankfully some thoughtful, insightful and competent social workers published research and analysis of the report from ASWB as well as propositions for how the social work profession should respond. Jen Hirsch from the School of Social Work at Michigan State University partnered with social work colleagues, Matthew DeCarlo (St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia Pennsylvania), Alexandria Lewis (University of Missouri), and Cassandra Walker (Intersections Center for Complex Healing in Chicago, Il) to analyze five assessment formats based primarily on procedural fairness, access, quality and outcomes as falling on a scale between equitable to inequitable. Their study titled, “Alternative Pathways to Social Work Licensure: A Critical Review and Social Equity Policy Analysis” was published in the Journal of Evidence-based Social Work on November 21, 2023. 

The five assessment formats were; oral exams, portfolios, performance assessment/stimulations, jurisprudence exams and provisional licensure. Each was analyzed with special consideration for their impacts on three categories of social workers who we now know with evidence from the ASWB’s report have been disproportionately impacted by bias in the ASWB exam; Black social workers, social workers whose primary language is not English, and social workers with disabilities. Ultimately the thorough analysis concluded that provisional licensure and jurisprudence exams would be the most ideal for creating a more equitable playing field for new social workers looking to elevate to full licensure. 

Provisional licensure refers to the practice (that already exists) for when social workers have full licensure without passing the written standardized exam (ASWB exam). This type of path to licensure has a long history in the social work field across the country but especially in Michigan where as many as 13,000 social workers were “grand-parented” into the licensure system in 2005 when Michigan started to require licensure for social workers, without requiring them to take the exam. Currently, though, this option is being utilized in Minnesota and Illinois; with a caveat. In both states they are allowing social workers who fail the exam to complete additional supervision instead of retaking the test. These efforts in Illinois are specifically in response to the ASWB’s report and require an additional two years of supervised work (3,000 hours of supervision with no ethical violations) after failing the exam once. In Minnesota their efforts with this are specifically focused on helping social workers who speak English as their second language, were born outside of the United States and had failed the exam. Minnesota has a particular need for practitioners who speak Hmong after having an influx of Hmong refugees. Authors of the study, though, confronted the issue of equity that comes up from first requiring social workers to fail the test before providing them with this alternative path. They also pose concerns related to requiring additional hours of supervision to offset not passing the exam. Should the response to the obvious need for change as it relates to licensing include stricter requirements for supervision the profession will need to take a look at the variety of standards and requirements related to supervision that varies across the country and in order to make this equitable consider creating a national standard for supervision. Through their thorough evaluation this option for licensure would be minimally inequitable and would be as close to equitable as an option seems to be at this point if it does not enforce failure of the exam before making this path available. 

Jurisprudence exams would differ from the ASWB exams currently used across the country because they would, instead, focus on laws and regulations that relate to social workers and ethical social work practice. These would likely be state-specific and would be much more specific than what the ASWB exams attempt to cover. Jurisprudence exams may sound a little foreign to Michigan social workers but our colleagues in Colorado, Indiana, Vermont, Texas and New Mexico are already familiar with them as part of their licensing process. Some things that often make these exams more equitable and validated are that they are often online and allow test takers to turn to resources for help. This aspect alone makes the test more accessible and more accommodating for social workers with obstacles to getting to an exam center or who have a right to accommodations that are often, anecdotally, hard to receive for the ASWB exam. The research team concluded that because of the good equity in access, quality, procedural fairness and outcomes these exams are a minimally inequitable way forward for consideration for licensure. 

Social workers fight for social justice and equitable access to housing, healthcare, mental healthcare, childcare, wages, emotional and physical safety - the list goes on, for our clients and for society at large. While we can’t rewrite history we can take a hard look at the status quo we’ve allowed in our own profession for our own colleagues - and most importantly the many social workers who by education and experience are social workers but who have had to find a new path forward with their career after being unable to pass the ASWB exam. It is never fun to look in the mirror and see evidence of racism and white supremacy in our reflection but we are the best profession to show other disciplines how to respond with mindful action to try to make things better for the future. The pandemic only intensified our society’s need for competent, compassionate and diverse social workers. The best way to better serve the needs of vulnerable populations is to make sure that we are elevating social workers to licensure status in the most equitable way possible. 

To read the entirety of Jen Hirsch and partner’s research, click here.

To share your experience with licensure or to talk about workforce issues reach out to: 

Jordan Freeman, LMSW-Clinical

NASW-MI Work Force Program Manager 

jfreeman.naswmi@socialworkers.org

Please join us for our next scheduled “Community Conversation” on Tuesday, June 25 at 5:30pm. Hear the newest updates and share your experiences and feedback with your social work community.

New Op-Ed Toolkit: Write About How the Michigan Licensure Process Has Impacted You!

Consider writing an op-ed, a letter to the editor, a guest column or a blog post to address an issue of concern for you. Have you had to change your career or job role because of the ASWB exam requirement or the cap on license renewals? Have you spent hundreds or thousands of dollars and countless hours to pass the ASWB exam? Maybe you’re a supervisor or hiring manager for an agency and you’ve had trouble hiring competent candidates because of the shortage impacted by this unnecessarily unfair obstacle? 

The more often social workers are seen as thoughtful commentators and experts in the media and online, the more likely public awareness of the profession’s diverse practice roles will increase. The social work community and each of our communities at large are often disconnected from this particular issue in the field of social work and your story can help bring this to life. 

If you’re interested in sharing your story check out the NASW-Michigan’s new Op-Ed Toolkit! You can also reach out to the Workforce Program Manager, Jordan Freeman, LMSW-Clinical, at jfreeman.naswmi@socialworkers.org for assistance.