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An Investigation of BCBA Exam Pass Rates as a Quality Indicator of Applied Behavior Analysis Training Programs

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Abstract

The number of colleges and universities offering behavior analytic training has grown rapidly over the last decade and it is time for our profession to evaluate the rigor of such trainings and to gain quality control. In this study we set out to investigate first-time pass rates on the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) examinations across Verified Course Sequences (VCSs) using publicly available data between 2013 to 2020. We evaluated outcomes related to overall first-time pass rates; the small number of programs contributing the greatest number of BCBA exam candidates; and the difference in first-time pass rates by mode of instruction and ABAI accreditation. We discuss the use of first-time pass rate data as a quality indicator and provide some recommendations based on the outcomes evaluated.

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Notes

  1. BCBA certificants may receive a designation as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral(BCBA-D) if they have received additional training at the doctoral-level and meet other prerequisite conditions. For more information visit www.bacb.com.

  2. The Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis Credentialing Board (QABA), Behavioral Intervention Certification Council (BICC), and American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) also offer credentials to behavioral providers.

  3. The BCBA-D and BCaBA credentials have seen steady growth but nowhere near the same level as the BCBA and RBT credential. The RBT credential in particular has seen exponential growth since the BACB began offering this credential in 2014 (Carr & Nosik, 2017).

  4. Licensure requirements vary by state. However, in the 31 states that have adopted some form of regulation of behavior analytic practice, it is estimated that at least 97% of the licensees at the graduate level hold a BCBA credential and 91% of the licensees at the undergraduate level hold a BCaBA credential (Dubuque et al., 2020).

  5. BACB select and trains diverse representative panels of SMEs based on demographics, education/training, employment, experience, and geography. More information about the SME process can be found on the BACB website at https://www.bacb.com/bacb-subject-matter-expert-information/.

  6. Although not currently required, the BACB has begun creating new exam eligibility pathways for students graduating from ABAI-accredited programs. The most-up-to-date information on these efforts can be found on their website: www.bacb.com.

  7. ABAI’s VCS program designation should not be confused with their recently introduced VCS CBS designation. This new designation includes different requirements for training programs that offer coursework in culturo-behavior science studies. At the time of writing, only seven training programs had this designation.

  8. ABAI began accepting applications for VCSs under the BACB Fifth Edition Task List after this date. Because many programs currently have an overlapping fourth and fifth edition VCS within their training programs this date was chosen as a more accurate (i.e., conservative) representation of the number of applied behavior analytic training programs that exist across universities.

  9. Certification examinations based off the BACB Third Edition Task List began in Fall 2005 (BACB, 2005b). Certification examinations based off the BACB Fourth Edition Task List began in February 2015 (BACB, 2017b, January). BACB certification examinations based on the BACB Fifth Edition Task List are scheduled to begin January 1, 2022.

  10. It is worth noting that the passage of a BACB exam is not the focus of many behavior analytic training programs. For example, some training programs have an explicit focus in the experimental analysis of behavior or organizational behavior management. For these types of programs, a BACB credential is less relevant and may be unnecessary. However, it could be argued that programs that are not interested in preparing their students to sit for a BACB exam should not have a Verified Course Sequence (VCS).

  11. The BACB will report combined data for a VCS if they have too few first-time candidates in a given year but six or more in a 2-year period.

  12. Undergraduate-level BCaBA VCS training programs were originally included in the analysis. However, we decided to exclude reporting these results given the relatively few certificants that hold this credential and the outsized influence of a single BCaBA VCS in training professionals pursuing this credential. In particular, initial analyses of publicly available data indicated that a single BCaBA VCS out of 40 accounted for 57% of all BCaBA exam candidates completing their coursework requirements and just 12 BCaBA VCSs accounted for 90% of candidates between 2013 and 2019.

  13. BACB only reported data only if a VCS had at least six candidates take the exam during a given year.

  14. For example, if a VCS’s first-time pass rate for the year 2017 did not match across two published data sets, the 2017 data from the later publication was used. This assumes that corrections or updates to the data were likely made after the first publication.

  15. VCS first-time pass rate data for 2020 were released late during manuscript preparation (BACB, 2021b). Reliability checks for this set was not conducted given the high rate of agreement shown with the earlier data sets.

  16. Published first-time pass rate data values are rounded. As a result, the product of multiplying the total number of candidates by the first-time pass rate has the potential to produce a noninteger.

  17. This value was calculated by dividing total first-time candidates by the sum of first-time candidates passing the exam within each mode of instruction.

  18. At the time of writing, the program where this VCS is housed no longer holds ABAI accreditation.

  19. In previous iterations of the BACB’s published VCS first-time pass rate reports, this designation was referred to as “Distance.”

  20. According to the BACB (2020b), VCSs with a “Hybrid” designation offer both online and campus courses and VCSs with a “Both” designation require students to choose either all online or all campus courses.

  21. It is important to note that we decided to not include the names of VCS in this article to place the focus of the discussion on the quantifiable trends. We did not believe adding names would add any value to the discussion except provide opportunity for either showcasing or blaming specific VCS.

  22. ABAI appears to have updated the categorization names slightly when they inherited the VCS system from the BACB in 2019. For example, “Campus” became “On-Campus,” “Distance” became “Online,” and “Both” became “Both On-Campus and Online.”

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Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), the University of Louisville, The Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP), California State University, Northridge (CSUN), or Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Council of Autism Service Providers, University of Louisville, 401 Edgewater Place, Suite 600, Wakefield, MA, 01880, USA

    Erick M. Dubuque

  2. Department of Special Education, Early Childhood, & Prevention Science, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Erick M. Dubuque

  3. Department of Psychology, California State University, CA, 91330, Northridge, USA

    Ellie Kazemi

  4. Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, 8033 Sunset Blvd #1093, CA, 90046, Los Angeles, USA

    Ellie Kazemi

Authors
  1. Erick M. Dubuque
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  2. Ellie Kazemi
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Correspondence to Erick M. Dubuque.

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Conflict of Interest

The first author accepted the position of Vice President of Accreditation with The Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) during manuscript revisions. In addition, he was employed part-time as the Accreditation Administrator for the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) from October 2015 to February 2018. He currently serves as a subject matter expert (SME) for the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) and is married to a member of the BACB leadership team. Lastly, during preparation of the manuscript the first author was a Verified Course Sequence (VCS) Coordinator for a graduate training program in applied behavior analysis. The second author does not currently have an affiliation with ABAI accreditation or the BACB. She has served as a BACB SME and on a few task forces in the past. At present, she a faculty member in a VCS program she founded in 2006 and directed until 2016. Lastly, she is the Chief Science Officer at Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, which is an accrediting organization.

Ethical approval

This project was submitted to the University of Louisville Human Subjects Protection Program and was deemed to not meet the “Common Rule” definition of human subjects’ research. As such the project did not require IRB review.

Informed consent

This project did not utilize any human subjects and relied on publicly available data sets.

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Author Note

The authors acknowledge Emily Zoernig for her assistance in conducting reliability checks of the VCS data sets.

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Dubuque, E.M., Kazemi, E. An Investigation of BCBA Exam Pass Rates as a Quality Indicator of Applied Behavior Analysis Training Programs . Behav Analysis Practice 15, 909–923 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00660-x

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