Blogs

CSWE Officially Recognized to Accredit Practice Doctorate Social Work Programs

By Matt Hooper posted Sep 03, 2025
ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Council on Social Work Education’s Board of Accreditation (CSWE-BOA) can now officially accredit Practice Doctorate Social Work Programs. That is according to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s (CHEA) Committee on Recognition, which officially approved CSWE’s request for a change in scope of accreditation. “This is a historic moment for the social work profession,” said Dr. Megan Fujita, who is serving as acting Executive Director of Accreditation at CSWE. “After more than 15 years of dialogue, collaboration, and data collection–including a 4-year pilot program–we are ready and proud to welcome more than 50 new and existing ...

Read CSWE's Letter to the Department of Education on MHSP Priorities

By Matt Hooper posted Aug 19, 2025
The following is also available at CSWE.org The letter below was sent on August 15 to Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Hayley B. Sanon at the U.S. Department of Education by CSWE President and CEO Halaevalu F. O. Vakalahi PhD, MSW, MEd On behalf of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) – which represents over 900 accredited baccalaureate and master’s degree social work programs, as well as individual social work educators, practitioners, and agencies dedicated to advancing quality social work education – we appreciate the opportunity to submit comments to the Department of Education (ED) on the proposed priorities for the Mental Health Service ...

CSWE Announces Recipients of Commissions and Councils Awards

By Matt Hooper posted Aug 04, 2025
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is proud to announce the honorees for our annual Commissions and Councils Awards, which honor and celebrate social work scholars, students, and educators for their contributions to social work and social work education. These awards will be presented at CSWE's Annual Conference in Denver from October 23 to 26. CSWE's commissions and councils are served by CSWE board members and volunteers, and each has a particular area of focus. These are the 2025 awards and honorees: Presented by the Council on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression (CSOGIE), the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, ...

MFP Advisory Board Accepting Applications

By Matt Hooper posted Aug 04, 2025
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) announced today that applications are open to join the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) Advisory Board . Members of the Advisory Board are appointed for a one-year term, effective Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2026. Advisory Board members play a pivotal role in shaping the future of social work leadership and ensuring the highest standards are upheld for the MFP Doctoral and Master of Social Work (MSW) cohorts. It is a meaningful opportunity to help advance the mission of the MFP and support the next generation of social workers. Applicants tend to be social work professionals (including MFP alumni, educators, ...

2022 EPAS and Licensing Exam Pass Rates

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Sep 16, 2022
This July, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) celebrated the release of the 2022 Education Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Since that time, the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) published the 2022 ASWB Exam Pass Rate Analysis , which included descriptive statistics that suggest significant race and age disparities in exam pass rates. While more rigorous data analysis is needed to accurately understand these disparities among test takers, the descriptive data are alarming. Therefore, CSWE’s Commission on Accreditation has made the decision to remove licensing exam pass rates from the 2022 EPAS accreditation standards . This ...

CSWE Announces Recipients of the 2022 Kendall Institute Grants

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Sep 14, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) announced the grantees for the seventh cycle of the Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education grants program. Grantees were selected based on their innovative projects that demonstrated sustainability, transferability, and potential to advance the field of international social work education. The programs featured below demonstrate the need to bring international social work education materials and curricula that bring the global context into social work classrooms in the United States. These projects will prepare future social workers and researchers to practice in an increasingly ...

Addressing Licensing Exam Pass Rate Data

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Sep 02, 2022
On August 5, 2022, the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) released

Creating Field Placements at 988 Centers

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Aug 30, 2022
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would like faculty and students at accredited social work programs to join the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 988 workforce. The 988 hotline launched on July 16, 2022 and officials from HHS and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) noted that the Council on Social Work Education has been a valuable partner to exploring ways to staff the new 988 emergency hotline. Accredited social work programs are encouraged to reach out to HHS and SAMHSA centers to establish volunteer opportunities and field placements for faculty and students. CSWE met with these officials ...

CSWE Tackles Standardizing Substance Misuse Curriculum

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Aug 16, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) hosted a Prac-Ed Faculty Development Institute event on Thursday, June 23, that focused on the topic, Preparing Future Practitioners to Address Substance Misuse. During this complimentary event, Dr. Audrey Begun highlighted a free collection of curriculum, assessment, and field education resources developed by CSWE and our partner programs to address the lack of a high-quality standardized curriculum in substance use and misuse. Dr. Begun served as the curriculum development consultant during the project's first two years and as the project coordinator during its final extension period. "CSWE created this ...

CSWE Celebrates Approval of the 2022 EPAS

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Jul 22, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is pleased to announce the approval and release of the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) . CSWE’s Commission on Accreditation (COA) and Commission on Educational Policy (COEP) are jointly responsible for developing the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The educational policy was developed by the COEP and approved unanimously by the CSWE Board of Directors on June 3, 2022. The accreditation standards were developed and approved unanimously by the COA on June 9, 2022. The 2022 EPAS are available now. Resources are posted on the CSWE website ...

Hilary Weaver Becomes the new Board chair of CSWE

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Jul 20, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) today welcomed a new Chair of the Board of Directors. Hilary Weaver, DSW, is a professor and associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work and she will serve as chair for three years. As a social worker, educator, and researcher, most of Weaver’s work focuses on the interplay of culture and helping processes with a particular focus on Indigenous Peoples and a secondary focus on refugees. Members of these populations share commonalities as they are often displaced, have experienced trauma, and are enveloped in foreign cultural contexts. Weaver is Lakota and ...

Supreme Court Limits Access to Reproductive Health

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Jul 15, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) regrets that the U.S. Supreme Court chose to remove federally protected access to reproductive and medical care by overturning Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. The decision to have a child and when is a deeply personal decision made by a woman or person who can become pregnant, their trusted medical provider, and their spouses or partners as they choose. For 50 years, that decision has given women and people who can become pregnant the opportunity to decide what happens to their bodies. While they may still have some access to care they need, there will likely be restrictions coming in the months and years ahead ...

CSWE Announces the 2022 CSWE Election Results

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Jul 13, 2022
The 2022 CSWE Election has officially concluded. Please join us in welcoming and congratulating the four newly elected members of the CSWE Board of Directors and National Nominating Committee (NNC). All positions are 3-year terms, beginning July 1, 2022, and ending June 30, 2025. CSWE extends its appreciation to all members who participated in the nomination and election process and to each candidate who expressed interest in serving in a Board or NNC position. Board of Directors Graduate Program Representative Laura Curran, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (NJ) Undergraduate Program Representative Christa Gilliam, Coppin State University ...

CSWE Expands Access to Membership

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Jun 06, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) welcomed the decision from members and the Board of Directors to modernize the structure of the association’s membership and leadership. Members voted to ratify revisions from the CSWE Board of Directors that ensure that all faculty, staff, and students of accredited and candidacy social work programs have access to member benefits through the program’s membership, essentially eliminating the need for individual memberships with CSWE. Individual memberships will remain available for retired faculty and administrators. Each program will receive two votes in future CSWE elections and decisions. Students will also ...

Voting is Social Work and CSWE Webinar

By Kianna Mckenzie posted May 17, 2022
There are more than 50,000 students, faculty members, and administrators at more than 840 accredited social work programs. If each of these people were registered to vote – and then helped 3 others register – that would equate to 200,000 voters heading to the polls this year. Join a live webinar at 2:30 PM (ET), on May 26, to learn how social work educators and students are mobilizing voters. Attendees will come away from the program with resources and tips to help register people to vote in their own campuses and communities. Register for the webinar today! "Voting matters. Our elected officials make decisions that affect us deeply, such as who is appointed ...

Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health is Now Available

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Apr 12, 2022
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is pleased to release the Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH), the newest addition to the 2015 EPAS Curricular Guide Resource Series . Created through the support of CSWE, Erikson Institute, and the Irving Harris Foundation, the specialized guide provides resources for social work educators desiring to expand IECMH content in their baccalaureate and master’s programs and courses. Using a competency-based approach, the guide highlights IECMH content for social work curricula and can be used with generalist or specialized practice curricula. It features ...

Critical Conversations with Colita Fairfax, PHD

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Apr 11, 2022
Colita Fairfax, PhD, historian and professor at Norfolk State University, outlined the importance of understanding the cultural and ancestral history of clients and communities as social workers in the latest Critical Conversation with CSWE Vice President of Education Tanya Smith Brice, PhD. Watch a condensed and full version of the conversation! "I think it’s important, incredibly important, for those of us in the social sciences to recognize the lived experiences of peoples’ ancestry," said Dr. Fairfax. "Everything that we do with regards to transformative change, this thing called social justice, this thing called equity, is about a reckoning with ...

Statistics Show Growing Demand for Social Work Education

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Apr 04, 2022
Enrollment increased over 1% at accredited social work programs offering baccalaureate (1.3%) and master’s (1.7%) degrees from 2019-2020, according to the results of a survey from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). This increase happened despite a 3.3% decline in total enrollment in higher education, according to sources. In fact, enrollment in social work programs has increased consistently for 10 years, according to the findings of the 2020 CSWE Annual Survey of Social Work Programs. “It is encouraging to see that so many students are choosing to pursue a degree in social work despite the challenges created by the pandemic on higher education, ...

Revising Data Collection on Social Work Education

By Kianna Mckenzie posted Mar 09, 2022
There are pressing needs within the social work education community for accurate and timely data on social work students and graduates, programming, faculty, and financing including tuition and financial aid. To be more responsive to those needs, CSWE is undergoing a process of reviewing and revising the Annual Survey on Social Work Education in the United States to streamline data collection and reporting. One result of that process is the modification of data collection procedures – the existing survey, which collects data using a long questionnaire, will be split into multiple components and administered at various times throughout the year to each social ...