Association of Social Work Boards Donna DeAngelis, LICSW, ACSW Executive Director Association of...

Association of Social Work Boards

Donna DeAngelis, LICSW, ACSW Executive Director Association of Social Work Boards

Stephen M. Marson, LCSW, ACSW, Ph.D Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice University of North Carolina at Pembroke Robert C. Kersting, A.C.S.W., Ph.D.  Professor, Department Chair Westfield State College

Council on Social Work Education

55th Annual Program Meeting

Not Teaching to the Test:

Critical Thinking and Licensing ExamsNovember 7, 2009

Overview

Objectives for this panel presentation:Participants will develop a more in depth understanding of the construction of the ASWB social work licensing exam.Participants will expand their understanding of critical thinking skills and its application to licensing test preparation.Participants will share their experiences and thinking on licensing exam preparation to increase all participants’ ability to aid students in their preparation.

Association of Social Work Boards

Overview, philosophy and value

of the test

Donna DeAngelisExecutive Director

Association of Social Work Boards

Association of Social Work Boards

An Orderly Mind:Is it a scary thing?And what does that

have to do with the licensing exam?

Association of Social Work Boards

The best approach to take in preparing for and passing the social work licensing exam is to be well-grounded in the basics of the profession—the knowledge—with the ability to apply critical thinking as needed.

The exams have been developed logically, and are scored and

maintained logically. There is nothing mysterious or “tricky” about them.

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First, they are a fact

of life—as sure as many other facts.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and all ten

Canadian provinces have licensing. Most use the ASWB exam.

In 2008, more than 30,000 social work applicants took one form of the exam—

the Bachelors, the Masters, the Advanced Generalist, or the Clinical.

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What makes a licensed profession?

There is an accepted body of knowledge

There is a code of ethics that all practitioners are expected to follow

? ?

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Place your rehabilitation into the hands of a physical therapist with no license?

Would you get an unlicensed

contractor to build your house?

Take your dog to an unlicensed vet?

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It’s about public protection.

Standards have to be set to make sure your social worker is competent. That’s where the exam comes in.

But it has to be reliable and defensible. That’s why it’s done so carefully, and so logically.

Association of Social Work Boards

The ASWB exams are based on a practice analysis, a survey of the profession. Such surveys are done about every seven years. One is in progress now.

Association of Social Work Boards

ASWB has done four practice analyses since 1980. A fifth one is underway.1981 – first practice analysis

1983 – first exams administered

1988 – revalidation study

1990 – new exams

1996 – new practice analysis

1998 – new examinations

2003 – new practice analysis

2004 – new exams

2008 – new practice analysis

2011 – new exams

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Once there is a content outline, questions are written by contracted

writers to fill the blueprint.

Then they go to the Exam Committee, for review and editing.

Association of Social Work Boards

The

2009 Exam Committee

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What can students expect these edited

questions to look like?

They are four-option multiple choice, and may appear as a question, with a question mark, or they may be incomplete sentences.

Association of Social Work Boards

A social worker is conducting personal safety seminars for senior citizens. What kind of activity is this? (A) Social planning(B) Community development(C) Primary prevention (key)(D) Secondary prevention

Straightforward question

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A social worker who conducts personal safety seminars for senior citizens is engaging in primary prevention, since the: •social worker is in a client relationship with the senior citizens(B) safety seminars are a valuable public service(C) senior citizens are considered an at-risk population(D) social worker is helping people to avoid problems (key)

Incomplete sentence

Association of Social Work Boards

Each question has another property—a cognitive level. The three levels used on the ASWB exams are recall, application and reasoning. There is a higher percentage of recall questions than reasoning questions on the Bachelors exam; as the education and experience requirements for taking the exam increase, from Bachelors to Clinical, the percentage of reasoning items goes up.

Association of Social Work Boards

This is what a recall question looks like.

Which symptom is MOST prevalent in persons with major depressive episode?

• Inflated self-esteem• Sleep disturbance (key)• Hallucinations• Negative view of the future

Association of Social Work Boards

And this is an application question.

A social worker is called to the medical ward of a hospital to evaluate a patient who is reported talking to insects. What should the social worker do FIRST?

• See the patient individually• Consult with the nursing staff (key)• Call the social work supervisor• Elicit past history from the family

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Reasoning.

A social worker is conducting an evaluation of a new client, who is concerned about constant worrying. The client is checking all doors and windows every night, to be sure they are locked, and frequently checks them several times. The social worker should FIRST tell the client that:

(A) Sessions are needed to explore the causes of the behavior (key)• The client should keep a log of the rechecks for six weeks(C) The behavior is not a serious concern(D) Goals need to be established

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But preparation is what students want to know about, right? Not the reasons for having an exam, not the careful development of the tests, not the need to approach questions logically.

Association of Social Work Boards

ASWB can offer two ways to prepare: one is

the study guide, a book that has been

around for a long time, with a description of

the exam development process and a 50-

question practice test.

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The other is a relatively new source for preparation, the online practice test. This is a 170-question exam that is made up of actual exam questions that are no longer in use, presented in the same computerized format as the real thing.It includes correct answers, a chance to review missed questions, and rationales for the correct answer.

The online exam can also be obtained in a version that can be used by social work educators in a group setting.

Association of Social Work Boards

With good preparation and a critical thinking approach to the exam, social workers will be successful at passing.

And they’ll know they have demonstrated their

knowledge on a reliable examination that serves as a portal to safe practice in their

profession.

Question Development

Stephen M. Marson, LCSW, ACSW, Ph.D

Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice

University of North Carolina at Pembroke

The Unknown Reality

Outcome of Exam

Social Workers at or above minimal competencyfor public protection

Social Workers below minimal competencyfor public protection

PassCorrectDecision

A

IncorrectDecision

B

FailIncorrectDecision

C

CorrectDecision

D

Figure 1

Figure 6Flowchart for

Item Development

Figure 7

A social worker approaches a client in the waiting room of a mental health clinic. The client stands, then has a seizure. The social worker observes that the seizure is mild and that unconsciousness is brief. The client is breathing, and no injury or major consequence is evident. The social worker should NEXT:

•inquire whether the client has had previous seizures•tell other clients to leave the area•ask the client if medical care is necessary•call for emergency medical services

Correct Response = DSPLIT N A% B% C% D%

Upper (27%) 119 18 2 29 51

Middle (46%) 204 18 3 29 50

Lower (27%) 119 1 15 3 67

Total 442 17 2 26 55

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Item Difficulty 55

Pbis .03 .01 .14 -.15

Figure 8

█████████████████████████████████████████████?

•███████████████████•███████████████████████████████•█████████████•███████████████████████████████████████

Keyed Response = A

SPLIT N A% B% C% D% E

Upper 350 89 3 1 7 0

Middle 598 67 9 1 23 0

Lower 350 36 11 3 49 0

Total 1298 65 8 2 26 0

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Item Difficulty 65

Pbis .44 -.11 -.09 -.39

Text

NOTE: Because the data is from a test item currently being used, the entire item must be concealed.

Critical Thinking &

Test Taking

Robert C. Kersting, A.C.S.W., Ph.D.  Professor, Department Chair Westfield State College

Critical Thinking

Why critical thinking?

“Decision making, whether explicit or implicit, is at the heart of clinical practice” (Gambrill, 1990)

Critical Thinking

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is a process used by social workers to determine which if any sets of beliefs about a given issue warrant our using these beliefs in our practice. This is a process that requires social workers to evaluate evidence and arguments with diligence and open-mindedness. This includes the reality that we often do not find absolute answers but are required to weigh the evidence or arguments that we find to make practice decisions regarding our clients. This process also requires us to reevaluate decisions and beliefs based on the presentation of new evidence.

Critical Thinking Process

Clarify the belief or position presented

Identify the evidence or argument presented

Evaluate the evidence and/or argument

Determine what you believe now

Integrate new beliefs into your practice

Be open to new evidence

A Model for Testing

Carefully read the questions (Clarify what is asked)What is the main knowledge needed to answer?Evaluate your knowledge for application to the question What do you think is the correct answer?Evaluate all answers in regard to your correct answerSelect best answer

Critical Thinking & Testing

Clarify the belief or position presentedIdentify the evidence or argument presentedEvaluate the evidence and/or argumentDetermine what you believe nowIntegrate new beliefs into your practiceBe open to new evidence

Carefully read the questions (Clarify what is asked)What is the main knowledge needed to answer?Evaluate your knowledge for application to the question What do you think is the correct answer?Evaluate all answers in regard to your correct answerSelect best answer

For a copy of these slides:They will be posted at the CSWE site for the APM oremail: rkersting@wsc.ma.edu