ASWB is leading the profession in solving challenges related to practice mobility. Regulators and social workers can learn more at MovingSocialWork.org.
Mission
To provide support and services to the social work regulatory community to advance safe, competent, and ethical practices to strengthen public protection.
Continuing Education
ACE connects social workers, CE providers, and regulators.
2017 Practice Analysis Technical Report
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string(2024) "ASWB is seeking qualified social workers to write questions for the licensing exams used in the United States and Canada. Deadline for applications is December 31, 2020.
Practicing social workers—item writers—write all the questions on the ASWB social work licensing exams. These writers are selected for their social work expertise and balanced to reflect diversity in practice area, geography, and demographics. Item writers work on a contract basis and are paid $1,500 for 30 questions approved for review by the ASWB Examination Committee. ASWB needs social workers from all categories of licensure with a variety of backgrounds in education and experience.
Applicants must:
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- Have a degree in social work
- Hold a valid social work license
- Be currently practicing social work (teaching social work courses is also considered practice)
- Attend a mandatory online training to be held August 20-22, 2021
- Work remotely with ASWB staff and consultants
- Be able to produce 30 multiple choice questions that meet ASWB standards within six to eight months of completing training
- Complete the screening application (PDF)
- Write a letter of interest (must be either a PDF or Microsoft Word document)
- Provide a resume (must be either a PDF or Microsoft Word document)
- Complete the item writer questionnaire. Upon completion, you will be prompted to upload the three documents above.
[caption id="attachment_85991" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dwight J. Hymans, MSW, LCSW, ACSW
ASWB Chief Executive Officer[/caption] Recently I was reminded of a Latin phrase that many purport to be the key to health, well-being, and solving problems. The phrase solvitur ambulando roughly translates to “It is solved by walking.” The idea seems simple enough: Walking gives one time away from the rushed pace of life and allows the mind to consider ideas and alternatives that may not have been previously considered. It can calm us physically and emotionally and, maybe most importantly, get us into nature. But I think the most important part of this idea is that we take time to consider solutions and allow them to develop. Walking gives us that opportunity.
Dwight J. Hymans, MSW, LCSW, ACSWASWB Chief Executive Officer[/caption] Recently I was reminded of a Latin phrase that many purport to be the key to health, well-being, and solving problems. The phrase solvitur ambulando roughly translates to “It is solved by walking.” The idea seems simple enough: Walking gives one time away from the rushed pace of life and allows the mind to consider ideas and alternatives that may not have been previously considered. It can calm us physically and emotionally and, maybe most importantly, get us into nature. But I think the most important part of this idea is that we take time to consider solutions and allow them to develop. Walking gives us that opportunity.
Since March, all of us have been walking through the COVID-19 pandemic searching for solutions to problems and issues none of us thought we would need to solve. For ASWB, many of the problems center around the exam. Test centers shut down and then opened with reduced capacity. Candidates who had testing appointments canceled have struggled to find new appointment times that worked for them. Our test vendor, Pearson VUE, developed safety and sanitation standards and implemented protocols to keep test-takers safe. Many stakeholders began to voice concerns about safety and advocate for more testing appointments, adding alternative testing options, and waiving exam requirements.
George Floyd’s death in late May brought renewed attention to racism in our country in an overt and urgent way that the health pandemic, with its disproportionate effect on communities of color, could not. The fight against racial injustice has elevated concerns about fairness and equality.
Message from the CEO
Throughout all of this, ASWB has listened to the concerns. And they are legitimate concerns. ASWB takes seriously the challenges faced by candidates and has consistently sought solutions that balance these concerns with the need to provide an exam that is reliable, valid, secure, and legally defensible. At times we have struggled with what makes sense as we search for the best direction. There are no easy and comprehensive solutions.
One solution being advocated is administration of the exams through an online proctoring process. With technology appearing to solve so many problems and offering so much opportunity, administering the exams online would seem viable—at least on the surface. ASWB has been exploring this method of delivering the exams for several years. We have consulted with experts in the fields of technology and high-stakes licensing exam administration. We have looked at many of the platforms and companies that offer proctored online testing services. Our conclusion? Adding online testing, with or without proctoring, may be an option for the future. But it is not an option at this time. Far too many concerns exist. Unreliable test security can lead to questioning of the legitimacy of results. Problems with broadband stability and accessibility can produce inequitable delivery and raise questions about consistency of administration.
ASWB will continue to administer the exams in Pearson VUE test centers, where appropriate safety and sanitation protocols are being followed. This is the only way to ensure that exam results are true and accurate. ASWB has a mandate to ensure that every candidate who applies to a jurisdiction to become a licensed social worker meets minimum competency standards. We are committed to meeting that mandate for our members. At the same time, ASWB will continue to walk through this time looking for viable alternative solutions.
"The expertise Keeva, Stacey, and Carl bring to ASWB will be invaluable as we continue to process more exam items and as we move into our other program initiatives." — Lavina Harless, Senior Director of Examination Services
Despite challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic that have caused all Examination Committee meetings to be convened virtually, ASWB’s Examination Development department has continued to increase its productivity and tackle new projects during 2020. Building on successes in 2019—which included training 25 new item writers and facilitating committee approval of 43 percent more items than the previous year—the department has new initiatives for ensuring item quality. To accomplish these tasks and help with ongoing work, ASWB recently hired three social workers with long experience in exam development.
Item bank inventory project
ASWB’s item development consultants are working to ensure that all items in its database of in-development items meet current ASWB standards. The consultants are periodically assigned batches of items to review and determine whether each item should be rejected, edited, approved, or moved to a different exam category. By the end of the year, the consultants will have reviewed about 7,700 items. “This project is important,” says Lavina Harless, senior director of examination services, “because we are committed to making the ASWB item banks as robust as they can be.”Item writer refresher training
Item development consultants and ASWB staff are creating an online refresher course for the exam program's 67 veteran item writers. “The social work profession changes with the times,” says Harless. “We are continuously improving our practices to ensure every scored item on our exams is aligned with current standards.”
The refresher course was built using the Blackboard learning management system and includes modules on topics such as person-first language; word choice; matching items to KSA statements; and using references to make sure each item is grounded in social work knowledge. Each module has an introductory video from one of the item development consultants, a slide show, and a quiz. The course is currently being pilot tested; it officially launches in October.
Staff additions
Three social workers recently joined the Examination Development team. Keeva Hartley-Stouffer, LCISW, serves as an item development consultant working from her home in Minnesota. Stacey Owens, LCSWC, of Maryland also joins as a remote item development consultant. And Carl Hokanson, LGSW, is relocating from Minnesota to Culpeper, Virginia, to join the ASWB staff.
[caption id="attachment_100182" align="alignleft" width="400"]
Carl Hokanson (MN) presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly in Orlando, Florida, as Bachelors exam co-chair.[/caption]
Hokanson began working remotely in early August as ASWB’s examination development manager. He plans to join the staff in person in October. “The great thing about bringing Carl on board as a staff member is that he has been working with our program for more 13 years,” Harless says. “He has served in various roles, including as an item writer, Exam Committee member, Bachelors exam co-chair, and form reviewer, so he is well versed and committed to the program.” Hokanson’s previous experience includes managing the social work department at a medical rehabilitation center in St. Paul, where he also provided services and supervised BSW interns.
Carl Hokanson (MN) presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly in Orlando, Florida, as Bachelors exam co-chair.[/caption]
Hokanson began working remotely in early August as ASWB’s examination development manager. He plans to join the staff in person in October. “The great thing about bringing Carl on board as a staff member is that he has been working with our program for more 13 years,” Harless says. “He has served in various roles, including as an item writer, Exam Committee member, Bachelors exam co-chair, and form reviewer, so he is well versed and committed to the program.” Hokanson’s previous experience includes managing the social work department at a medical rehabilitation center in St. Paul, where he also provided services and supervised BSW interns.
Hokanson is enthusiastic about getting involved with the association in a new way. “ASWB has created a respected, well-run exam program while having a lot of fun in the process,” Carl says. “I am looking forward to getting to know ASWB in more depth beyond the exam program.” And what he calls the “more temperate winters” are another bonus of making the move south.
Hartley-Stouffer will work with the Masters exam as an item development consultant. “We have a team of item development consultants who work remotely with the exam program and item writers,” Harless says. "Keeva will fill the position formerly held by Nancy Sidell. Nancy will fill a new consultant position added to meet the needs caused by the growth and expansion the program has experienced and will continue to experience in the future." Hartley-Stouffer has been involved in exam development for more than a decade, serving as an item writer, committee member, and committee co-chair. She provides services in Bloomington, Minnesota, as an independent practitioner and has more than 15 years of clinical experience. “I have always prided myself on being a social worker,” Hartley-Stouffer says. “I get to help and support my clients on their healing journey, and now I get to effect change in a different way by becoming a consultant with ASWB.”
Owens is serving alongside Amanda Duffy Randall as an item development consultant for the Bachelors exam. She has volunteered with ASWB in many of the same capacities as Hokanson and Hartley-Stouffer have, working as an item writer, Examination Committee member, form reviewer, and co-chair for the Bachelors exam. She currently works for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and her previous experience is with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Owens connects her decision to become an ASWB consultant to the challenges our society is facing. “We are living in a time when competence, integrity, importance of human relationships, and dignity and worth of all people are most needed,” she says. “I look forward to supporting ASWB in advancing these essential values of our profession.”
Expertise for the future
“The expertise Keeva, Stacey, and Carl bring to ASWB will be invaluable as we continue to process more exam items and as we move into our other program initiatives,” Harless says. “All three have been involved in every facet of the examination development process.” ASWB welcomes the energy and knowledge of these three subject matter experts.
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string(2024) "ASWB is seeking qualified social workers to write questions for the licensing exams used in the United States and Canada. Deadline for applications is December 31, 2020.
Practicing social workers—item writers—write all the questions on the ASWB social work licensing exams. These writers are selected for their social work expertise and balanced to reflect diversity in practice area, geography, and demographics. Item writers work on a contract basis and are paid $1,500 for 30 questions approved for review by the ASWB Examination Committee. ASWB needs social workers from all categories of licensure with a variety of backgrounds in education and experience.
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- Have a degree in social work
- Hold a valid social work license
- Be currently practicing social work (teaching social work courses is also considered practice)
- Attend a mandatory online training to be held August 20-22, 2021
- Work remotely with ASWB staff and consultants
- Be able to produce 30 multiple choice questions that meet ASWB standards within six to eight months of completing training
- Complete the screening application (PDF)
- Write a letter of interest (must be either a PDF or Microsoft Word document)
- Provide a resume (must be either a PDF or Microsoft Word document)
- Complete the item writer questionnaire. Upon completion, you will be prompted to upload the three documents above.
News
Examination writers sought
ASWB is seeking qualified social workers to write questions for the licensing exams used in the United States and Canada. …It is solved by walking!
Recently I was reminded of a Latin phrase that many purport to be the key to health, well-being, and solving …Examination Development update: 2020 brings new projects and experienced staff
"The expertise Keeva, Stacey, and Carl bring to ASWB will be invaluable as we continue to process more exam items …