ASWB launched new exams in January
New exams based on the 2015–2016 practice analysis launched in January. The changes to the licensing exam blueprints were predominantly minor modifications for comprehensiveness and currency. Of primary importance was ensuring that the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities statements are easy for candidates to understand and meaningful for individuals involved in exam development activities.
Work continued after the initial release of the eight exams—two each for Bachelors, Masters, Advanced Generalist, and Clinical categories. Form reviewers, emeritus members of the Examination Committee, met four times in 2018 to select the questions that appear on the exams, or forms. Using the new blueprints, form reviewers approved an additional 14 exams for use in 2018 and three more ready to go online in January 2019.
The Examination Committee met four times in 2018 to review and approve exam questions that will be pretested on the exams. Pretest questions are not included in the candidate’s score; the responses are used to evaluate the item to determine if statistics support making it a question that is scored in later examinations.
The Examination Development department celebrated the launch of the new exams in January by holding an afternoon dessert reception for staff. Following the staff gathering, ASWB hosted a dinner for the item development consultants who served as an oversight panel throughout the practice analysis.