Opinion | Lower Black and Latino Pass Rates Don t Make a Test Racist – The New York Times

The Association of Social Work Boards administers tests typically required for the licensure of social workers. Apparently, this amounts to a kind of racism that must be reckoned with.

There is a Change.org petition circulating saying just that, based on the claim that the association s clinical exam is biased because from 2018 to 2021 84 percent of white test-takers passed it the first time while only 45 percent of Black test-takers and 65 percent of Latino test-takers did. These numbers are grossly disproportionate and demonstrate a failure in the exam s design, the petition states, adding that an assertion that the problem lies with test-takers only reinforces the racism inherent to the test. The petitioners add that the exam is administered only in English and its questions are based on survey responses from a disproportionately white pool of social workers.

But the petition doesn t sufficiently explain why that makes the test racist. We re just supposed to accept that it is. The petitioners want states to eliminate requirements that social workers pass the association s tests, leaving competence for licensure to be demonstrated through degree completion and a period of supervised work.

via www.nytimes.com