Acceptable Degrees

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Recent Developments

Current BCaBA Degree Requirement
(Effective 2/26/2013)

Possession of a minimum of a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.

Current BCBA Degree Requirement

Effective January 2011, an applicant must have the appropriate degree "from an accredited university, that was conferred in behavior analysis or other natural science, education, human services, engineering, medicine or a field related to behavior analysis and approved by the BACB."

In order to qualify under this degree requirement, the BACB must receive your completed application for certification (including supporting documentation) by December 31, 2015.

If your degree was conferred in behavior analysis or one of the approved academic areas listed below, you do not need to take any action.

Education
Clinical, counseling, or school psychology
Clinical social work
Occupational therapy
Speech/language therapy
Engineering
Medicine

All other degree determinations are made on a case-by-case basis if the coursework that was required for your graduate degree included courses that were behavior analytic in nature. To request consideration of your degree under the current standards, use the form below to provide us with some basic information.

All United States degrees must come from an accredited university as determined by the Council on Higher Education (www.chea.org)
or for Canada:
http://www.aucc.ca/canadian-universities/our-universities
http://www.accc.ca/xp/index.php/en/members/memberinstitutions

Most universities from outside of the US and Canada will not appear in the above and should be submitted to World Education Services or another member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services for evaluation.

Include a transcript for your degree and/or an equivalency evaluation report with your request.

New BCBA Degree Requirement

Any application for BCBA-level certification that is received after, or is incomplete as of, December 31, 2015 will be subject to the following degree requirement:

Possession of a minimum of a master's degree from an accredited university that was (a) conferred in behavior analysis, education, or psychology, or (b) conferred in a degree program in which the candidate completed a BACB approved course sequence.

Form to Request Consideration Under the Current BCBA Degree Requirement

Full Name

Your Highest Degree (enter the full name, e.g., Master of Arts in School Psychology):

Year the Degree Was Conferred:

University that Granted the Degree (enter the full name):

Level of Certification You Would Like to Pursue:
BCBA BCaBA

Your Email Address:

City (US/Canada only):

State / Province (US/Canada only):

Country:

Transcript:

Click this button to locate the transcript file on your computer. It must be a PDF or Word document, and smaller than 20 megabytes in size.

WES Evaluation:

Click this button to locate the WES evaluation file on your computer. It must be a PDF or Word document, and smaller than 20 megabytes in size.

Degree inclusions requests are offered as a courtesy to potential applicants, subject to the terms and conditions of the Mandatory Certification Processing Agreement included in all applications for BCBA and BCaBA certification. The BACB reserves the right to modify its rules at any time. It is the responsibility of individuals making a request to remain informed of current BACB requirements. If you have not yet applied for certification, any BACB determination regarding your degree inclusion request is preliminary, subject to final determination upon submission of your full certification application to the BACB.