ABSTRACT
TRUTH OR FICTION?
From the viewpoint of the state, licensure examinations are regarded as a primary measure of practitioner competence.
Licensure examinations target the knowledge and skills that should have been mastered by the minimally competent practitioner.
State MFT licenses, and the exams upon which they are issued, are primarily intended to enhance the status, visibility, and billing prerogatives of MFT practitioners.
Licensure examinations attempt to measure both knowledge and the practical application of knowledge.
Because of family therapy's unique systemic orientation, the California and National Examinations in MFT had to be developed using different processes than most other examinations in the mental health field.
Twenty-five percent of states currently require an oral examination for marital and family therapy licensure.
Licensure examinations in family therapy focus solely on the clinical aspects of practice.
A number of states require two different written examinations in marital and family therapy.
The goal of professional examination construction is to operationalize what MFTs do and what they need to know to do, so that specific exam items relating to these tasks and bodies of knowledge can be developed.
Candidates sitting for the National Examination in MFT should guess at answers about which they are not sure, because there is no mathematical penalty for doing so.
Professional exams in the MFT field have a pass-rate of approximately 90%.
After examination administration, statistics for each item are reviewed to be sure that it has performed in accordance with exam specifications.
A critical part of examination preparation is becoming familiar with one's respecttive state licensure laws and important national legal issues in the mental health field.
The pass-point for licensure examinations in the MFT field are generally set at the average score, minus one standard deviation.
The format for most academic qualifying examination in MFT parallels the format of the National Examination.
