The correct answers appear to be obvious and the deflectors poor for current questions in the item bank. An examination of the sample problems and case studies contained in the two correspondence courses previously cited reveal a different picture to me. I can see the basis for some good questions with deflectors that make finding the right answer a reasoning process rather than a recognition one. Perhaps we have the wrong people trying to write these questions. I further believe such education should not stop at the graduate level but should be an integral part of a continuing education program.
Many states now require continuing professional competency programs as a condition for relicensure.
Perhaps a periodic ethics course should be a mandated part of such programs. Whether the primary site of that entry level testing should be on the national examination as now constituted is a question open to debate. In lieu of including the questions on such an examination, a separate test on ethics alone could be the answer. It would also allow for the isolation and testing of ethical competency rather than simply including a few questions on ethics within the body of a larger test. A taker could conceivably fail all of the ethics questions using the current format while passing the overall examination with flying colors.