How To Become A Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA): Five Steps

If you are interested in mental health and are looking for a career that will allow you to help people lead happier lives, becoming a Board Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA®) is one option that you may want to consider.

Becoming a BCBA equips you with the skills to assess and improve behavior in various settings. By understanding the foundational theories and applying behavior analysis techniques, BCBAs play a crucial role in developing interventions that enhance the quality of life for individuals across different stages of life.

Below, we’ll cover what exactly a BCBA is and what they do, as well as critical steps in the BCBA certification process that can help you start a successful career in behavioral health.

What is a BCBA?

According to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s® (BACB®) website, the “Board Certified Behavior Analyst is a graduate-level certification in behavior analysis. Professionals certified at the BCBA level are independent practitioners who provide behavior-analytic services.”

Once you have become a BCBA, in addition to directly providing behavioral health services, you will be able to supervise the work of Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts® (BCaBAs®), Registered Behavior Technicians® (RBTs®), and other professionals who implement behavior-analytic interventions.

In short, a BCBA is a professional who studies the behavior of children and adults—including those with developmental disabilities, brain injuries, and/or emotional or social issues—and creates plans to improve or change problematic behavior.

Steps to Becoming a BCBA

1. Earn a Relevant Bachelor’s Degree

Ultimately, because you will need to earn a graduate degree to become a BCBA, you’ll need to complete an undergraduate degree first. This means you will need to earn a relevant undergraduate degree at an accredited institution prior to enrolling in a graduate program.

To start, consider earning an undergraduate bachelor’s degree in psychology, education, or applied behavior analysis, as these are the most common degrees earned by BCBAs.

Keep in mind that earning an undergraduate degree geared more toward human behavior is useful but not necessarily a requirement to apply for a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis.

2. Complete Required Behavior-Analytic Graduate Coursework

To earn your certification, you must earn a graduate degree that meets certain coursework requirements set by the BACB®.

According to the BACB, students have two potential pathways to meeting this requirement:

Pathway One: ABAI-Accredited Graduate Program

Behavior-analytic graduate degree programs that have been accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) have met ABAI’s Accreditation Standards, which include standards for the curriculum, faculty, and resources, among other areas.

This pathway requires applicants to successfully complete 270 classroom hours of graduate-level classes in specific concentrations. Generally, the coursework includes concepts on ethical and professional conduct and research methods, principles, and concepts in behavior analysis.

Pathway Two: Verified Course Sequence

This option requires you to complete behavior-analytic coursework through a Verified Course Sequence. A Verified Course Sequence is a designation from the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) that verifies the courses meet the coursework requirements for eligibility to take the Board Certified Behavior Analyst® or Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst® examination. Although some Verified Course Sequences are embedded in an ABAI-accredited graduate program, many are not. Verified Course Sequence status merely indicates that the content-hour requirements for certain behavior-analytic courses have been reviewed.