Certification examinations play a crucial role in ensuring that professionals possess the necessary knowledge and skills to practice safely and competently. In the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA), the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) develops content outlines, previously known as task lists, to guide the creation of certification exams. However, due to the evolving nature of the ABA profession, the task lists have taken on additional functions. This article explores the BACB's process of updating the BCBA content outline and reconsidering the task list's purpose.

The Evolution of the BCBA Task Lists

The BCBA task lists have traditionally served as comprehensive guides to behavior-analytic content for certification exams. Per the BACB, these task lists are not intended to be university curricula or supervised fieldwork curricula. Instead, they should be incorporated into most curricula, alongside additional content not included in the task lists. Recognizing the need to clarify the purpose of the task lists, the BACB has decided to rebrand them as test content outlines (TCOs), aligning with terminology used in other professions.

Decoupling Examinations from Certification Requirements

Previously, the implementation of new BCBA examinations coincided with revised certification requirements. This approach resulted in lengthy intervals between new examinations to allow universities sufficient time to adapt to the changes. To enhance responsiveness to changes in the profession, the BACB will update the examinations and TCOs independently of certification requirement changes. This approach is feasible due to the relative stability of TCO content and certification requirements.

Development of the 6th Edition BCBA TCO

The development of the 6th edition BCBA Test Content Outline 6th Edition (TCO 6) began with a Job Task Analysis (JTA) process, the primary method for creating high-stakes examinations. The JTA process involved multiple steps:

  • Draft TCO: A 14-member subject matter expert (SME) committee, consisting of certified BCBA or BCBA-D professionals with diverse backgrounds, convened in April 2021. They reviewed BCBA certification data, university training information, and previous task lists to create a draft TCO.
  • Content-Validation Survey: In July 2021, the draft BCBA TCO was distributed to all current BCBAs for a content-validation survey. Respondents assessed the importance, criticality, and/or prevalence of each task statement. The survey received significant participation, with 16,106 BCBAs rating task statements in at least one content domain.
  • Finalizing the TCO: BACB and Pearson VUE staff thoroughly reviewed the survey data and respondent commentary. After validation through the content-validation survey, the draft TCO remained unchanged, with no tasks being removed or added.
  • Examination Specifications: In October 2021, a meeting of 14 SMEs, including 4 from the TCO-development meeting, was held to develop examination specifications based on the finalized TCO. The SMEs determined the distribution of content from each domain and the relative weightings of the questions.

Approval and Implementation

The finalized BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) and the associated examination specifications were presented to the BACB Board of Directors. In December 2021, the Board approved the results of the BCBA JTA, paving the way for the new BCBA examination based on the 6th edition TCO, which will be implemented in 2025.