ASWB Pass Rate Information
The ASWB examinations are not education outcome measures. The examinations are not intended to be comprehensive in the academic sense. The content of the licensing examination is limited to the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for safe and competent practice. Exam content reflects only a small portion of the material covered in a bachelor’s or master’s program in social work. Therefore, it is not appropriate to consider a passing score on a licensing examination as an indicator of anything other than entry-level competence required to practice safely. For information on Shepherd social work students’ mastery of social work competencies and learning outcomes, please visit the Shepherd University Social Work Program’s Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes report.
Program identification is self-reported and voluntary, which can introduce inaccuracies. Exam candidates are asked to self-identify their social work program by school code when they register for the exam. Providing this information is voluntary, and many candidates choose not to answer this question. Candidates who do answer may inadvertently select an incorrect school code and may select the correct school code but have earned a degree in a practicum other than social work.
The number of graduates who have taken an ASWB examination may be lower than expected. Not all jurisdictions license all social work categories. Where graduates obtain employment will determine whether they need to be licensed and whether they need to sit for an ASWB examination. It is possible that an entire graduate population will not be accounted for in annual pass/fail summary reports.
ASWB licensing exam summary pass rate reports by social work degree program can be accessed at https://www.aswb.org/exam/exam-scoring/exam-pass-rates/