News & Updates

White test takers are far more likely to pass the licensing exam than people of color or older test takers.

The move comes as the nation grapples with a shortage of social workers, but also as scores of social workers decry licensure exams for which data show people of color fail at higher rates than white counterparts.

The findings, published in March by the journal Research on Social Work Practice, concluded that answers that would have been marked incorrect on the exams instead represented a safer and more ethical response — raising fundamental questions about the validity of the test that serves as the gateway to the country’s frontline social service jobs.

Call for action!

NASW-CA is committed to increasing diverse representation at all levels of social work practice. We support identifying alternative pathways to licensure that are inclusive and just, and we will continue to advocate for dismantling biased and racist systems. We look to forward to uplifting solutions that remove barriers and ensure equitable access to all career pathways for social workers.

The multiple-choice answers don’t reflect the real-world scenarios social workers face, Love said. Instead, the test focuses on the theoretical ideals of a profession that has always been both noble and flawed, long defined by White intellectuals who try to do good as defined by their worldview.

The bill also includes a path for clinical social workers to get licensed without passing the final exam. Instead, alternative requirements like more client and supervision hours would be needed.

Mental health and social work advocates are pushing for legislative change to shift Michigan's social worker licensing process from a test-based approach to a practice-driven alternative that has proven successful in other states.

But Andres and the hundreds of social workers like her pursuing a license in Oklahoma must get an additional 4,000 hours of practical experience. Then, they can take another test and get their license if they pass — all while being paid less than licensed professionals doing the same jobs.

Thanks in large part to a bill signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker, the number of licensed non-independent social workers has increased by 100% since Dec 1, 2021 in Illinois, exceeding the 10,000 mark for the first time. In light of severe mental health workforce shortages in the state as well as issues of diversity within the profession, this achievement is a first step to addressing an alarming shortage of mental health professionals in Illinois.

But at a time when they are arguably needed most, Black social workers face stringent barriers to earning full clinical licenses. Nationally, Black social workers report experiencing racial bias in the test-taking process that is required to earn the clinical license needed to administer independent therapeutic services. This crisis calls for new solutions, and Illinois is trying one that sounds promising.

Graduates from accredited social service programs can be licensed immediately, rather than waiting six months or more for applications to be processed. (NJ)

At the beginning of the year, legislative efforts allowed the Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers to temporarily waive test exam fees for those seeking any social worker license. Funds allocated also allowed fees for new applications and some license renewals to be waived as well.

While there are important ideas being pursued in our state to remove barriers to becoming licensed as a social worker (e.g., social work education loan forgiveness), there is another approach, proven in other states to have a direct impact on increasing the number of available social workers, that Maine should adopt: LD 1990, An Act to Improve the Licensing Procedure for Certain Social Workers by Removing the Examination Requirement.

That’s because the multiple-question test is formulaic, failing to account for the nuances of real life, said Sheryl Kubiak, dean of the Wayne State University School of Social work and co-chair of the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work’s task force on the licensure exam.

Aspiring clinical social workers can become licensed in the New Year even if they do not pass their licensure exam the first time.

A Queens lawmaker has begun a push to do away with a controversial certification test in the hopes of providing better services to those in need. Ideally, it will allow a more diverse range of professionals to impact their communities, she says.