What the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board — Social Worker Section (Wisconsin DSPS) requires to reach LCSW — supervised hours, exams, continuing education and renewal.
| Credential | Full name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CSW | Social Worker certificate | Wis. Stat. § 457.08(1). |
| APSW | Advanced Practice Social Worker certificate | § 457.08(2). |
| ISW | Independent Social Worker certificate | § 457.08(3). |
| LCSW | Clinical Social Worker license | § 457.08(4). Note the statute uses "certificate" for the first three and "license" only for this one. |
| Supervised experience | 3,000 hours — of post-degree clinical social work practice, completed after the master's or doctoral degree and after APSW or ISW certification |
| Supervision hours | Not specified by the board |
| Supervision frequency | Not specified in the rule we could reach. MPSW 3.09 refers to MPSW 4.01 for supervision criteria, which we could not retrieve. Note that the weekly-hour figure circulating for Wisconsin applies to ISW applicants, not LCSW — do not carry it across. |
| Minimum elapsed time | Not specified by the board |
| Direct client contact | At least 1,000 hours of face-to-face client contact within the 3,000, of which at least 600 must involve DSM diagnosis and treatment of individuals. |
The ASWB national exam at the level applied for is required of all eligible applicants, with scores sent directly from ASWB and a 90-day wait after a failure. The board phrases it as "the level applied for" rather than naming categories. Wisconsin also requires a state Statutes and Rules examination — open book, required of all applicants, waived if passed within the last 5 years.
This state also requires a state-specific examination in addition to the national exam.
30 continuing education credit hours per 2-year credential period.
Easy to get wrong. An applicant whose degree lacked a clinical concentration may submit an affidavit of 1,500 hours of supervised clinical experience over at least one year. That alternative does not replace the 3,000-hour post-degree requirement — it sits alongside it.
Wisconsin has enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact. Thirty-three jurisdictions have. Enactment is not the same as availability: the Compact Commission has not opened applications and no multistate licenses have been issued yet. Until it goes live, licensure by endorsement remains the route into another state. Where the compact actually stands.
Primary authority: Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board — Social Worker Section (Wisconsin DSPS). Where anything on this page differs from the board, the board governs.
We do not publish fee amounts. Boards revise fee schedules without notice and a stale figure on a page people budget from is worse than no figure — use the board link above for current fees.
Requirements change. Confirm anything you intend to act on with the board before you apply. Tell us if something here is out of date and we will correct and re-date the page.
Last reviewed: October 2026 · Next scheduled review: January 2027
This guide is the reference. If you want it turned into dates and a checklist — when to register, when each exam opens to you, what the fees come to — the roadmap builder does that for Wisconsin.
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