DC considers dropping social work exam over concerns too many people of color are failing – NBC4 Washington

The DC Council is considering eliminating the exam requirement for certain types of social workers because of racial bias concerns.

Citing the need to fill social worker positions in the district, a bill by Councilman Robert White would eliminate the exam for entry-level and master’s license applicants, whose work must still be supervised.

The move comes as the nation struggles with a shortage of social workers, but also as scores of social workers denounce licensing exams that data show people of color fail at higher rates than their white counterparts.

“What the exam is doing is de-diversifying the profession,” said Catholic University professor Michael Massey, who said for years he has observed too many students of color succeed in class but not the licensing exam.

The multiple-choice tests, which ask social workers what they would do in hypothetical scenarios, are not made public. But Massey says the exam doesn’t capture cultural nuances and real-world experience and marks some answers as wrong that would be reasonable in practice.

As a result, “we have great social workers of color who came to social work schools to serve their communities, and they’re not allowed to do that despite rigorous preparation in school,” he said.

Others say the problem is not the exam, but the systemic educational challenges that lead to it, and defend it as necessary to ensure subject competency.

“It will create an unnecessary risk of harm to the most vulnerable and marginalized residents of the District of Columbia,” said Anniglo Boone, executive director of the Consortium for Child Welfare and head of the Unite DC Coalition of Social Workers.

The issue came to a head after the Virginia-based Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), which for decades has administered exams for various levels of licensure, pushed to release data on the rate of ‘approval.

The results, made public last year, were overwhelming.

Between 2018 and 2021, 76.2% of white candidates passed the degree exam for the first time. The percentage dropped to 63.6% of Native American/Indigenous peoples, followed by 59.6% of Asian and 52.8% of Hispanic applicants.

Only 33% of black testers approved, a 43% difference among white testers.

The organization also released numbers showing how many passed the exam, and while it improved, racial disparities persisted. The data also show that older test takers passed at lower rates than younger test takers.

“It was very shocking that African Americans had the lowest pass rate,” said Karla Abney, a doctoral student at Catholic who passed the master’s-level exam last year to become a social worker at graduate with license. He is also head of the Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work.

Abney says passing the exam was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” but said she’s not convinced it’s necessary for entry-level social workers.

The exam is just one of the requirements for licensure in DC, in addition to qualifications in the field. Abney noted that bachelor’s and master’s license holders typically work under the supervision of more experienced social workers, such as independent clinical social workers, and many end up taking the exam to practice independently.

“Whenever we prepare our social workers [for] independent license, I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Abney, who was recently appointed to a Maryland task force to study the same issues there.

Classmate Raquel Ruiz, among four Universitat Católica students interviewed by the I-Team for this story, said of the data: “It’s easy to say you could blame the test takers, but I think it has to be given up accounts of how the exam is structured”.

DC is one of the latest to consider the move. Illinois eliminated the master’s level test two years ago and saw at least 3,000 licensed social workers the following year, according to the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

“We’re not going to release unqualified people into the masses, but this test is not a proven method of qualification,” White said of his bill.

White says he hopes doing it here will help solve a mental health “crisis” by filling vacancies in schools and social service organizations. His legislation would also create a committee to study licensing requirements for the independent social worker level — those who diagnose and treat mental and behavioral disorders.

“This bill alone does not solve our problem. It moves us significantly in the right direction,” White said.

But Boone said more research is needed to explain the pass rate disparities before rolling out the exam. He argued that DC could allow social workers to work on a provisional license while they retest.

In a statement, the social work board told News4 it “endorses our social work licensing exams as part of a comprehensive system that educates, authorizes and regulates the social work profession. These exams serve as measures uniform and objective social work knowledge and skills, and their development meets industry standards that include multiple layers of anti-bias review.

The statement continues DC should maintain the requirement because “doing so brings legitimacy to our profession.”

At a September hearing before the board, the head of the ASWB said the problem isn’t the test, but the systemic challenges students of color face much earlier.

“People are bringing a lot to the exam experience and they’re not coming to that exam experience on a level playing field,” said Stacey Hardy-Chandler, CEO of the testing board, adding: “The results I believe reflect these larger social issues”.

In the statement to News4, the council also said it is investigating ways to “address larger institutional inequalities”.

But back at Catholic, some students expressed doubt that would be enough.

“I really have to prepare myself to understand this exam that wasn’t really created for someone who looks like me, someone who has a similar background to me,” said graduate student Emely Fortiz, who talk about the need for more bilingual social workers in the District.

Sarah-Ann Nestor, who hopes to work in D.C. after getting her license, said the pass rate data has given her pause.

“Having it on your back … it’s nerve-wracking,” he said.

In a statement, the National Association of Social Workers said it supported similar legislation in Illinois and called the exam flawed and biased. He also said he is working to address the social worker shortage by proposing an interstate licensing pact that would allow clinical social workers to work across state lines.

The Council has not yet set a date for the vote on the measure.

This story was reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Steve Jones. NBC4 photographer Carlos Olazagasti contributed to this report.