Examination Program Yearbook

The success of the Association of Social Work Boards social work licensing examination program depends on the hard work of a diverse group of volunteers, consultants, and contracted item writers committed to public protection. Together, these social workers ensure that the ASWB examinations remain fair, valid, and reliable.

Demographic information is self-reported by participants at ASWB’s request.

2024 Examination Committee

The Examination Committee is made up of successful former item writers who are subject matter experts representing the diversity of the social work profession. This committee, appointed by the ASWB Board of Directors, typically meets up to four times a year to review and approve questions for use on the ASWB examinations.

2024 Form Review Team

After items are approved and have been shown to have good statistics by psychometricians, they become part of ASWB’s item bank, eligible to be placed on an exam form (version) to be administered to licensure candidates. Each form receives a final review by the Form Review Team, made up of subject matter experts, to ensure it continues to be relevant, accurate, and free of microaggressions before the form is used to assess competence.

2024 examination development meetings

January 11, Social Work Workforce Coalition, online
April 11–13, Form Review, Crystal City, VA
June 6–9, Exam Committee, Washington, DC
August 2–3, Exam Committee, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM
September 5–7, Practice Analysis Task Force, Reston, VA
September 20–21, Social Work Workforce Coalition, Alexandria, VA
October 3–6, Form Review, Washington, DC

Exam program community

These charts show the racial/ethnic and gender proportions of the exam program community compared to data on 2022–2023 social work graduates compiled by CSWE.

2024 item writers

Item writers are practicing social workers contracted by ASWB to write questions for the social work licensing exams. ASWB works to recruit a pool of item writers who are representative of the social work profession.

Consultants

ASWB contracts with experienced social workers who work directly with item writers in the creation of the questions that are presented to the Examination Committee. The consultants are successful former item writers and Examination Committee members. These consultants also attend Examination Committee meetings to provide guidance and gather feedback from the committee on the work of item writers.