• Slide 1- Welcome:
• Samuel DiGangi
• Audience, Thank you for joining the ASUonline ABA program Informational Webinar.
• First,  I want to to begin by congratulating all of you who are current students who are alumni of our program on your membership in a very large network of behavior analysts, and that is certainly something regardless of where you are, in your and your in your pathway toward towards your career - to becoming board certified - you are a member of a very large cohesive community.
• For those who are attending that are interested in the program and finding out what's going on with the program, welcome as well. We're going to cover some key points that we know our current students and our alumni, who have perhaps not yet applied to sit for the BCBA exam, questions that you may have, and certainly at the end we'll open up to questions and answers that can cover a wide range. And so we'll try to hit during this webinar on the key points that we know will be of interest to you as you plan your next steps.
• So again, welcome. I'm Sam DiGangi. I'm the program coordinator of the online ABA graduate programs. And with me is my colleague.
• Amanda Boutot:
• 02:06
• Hi, everyone. I see a lot of familiar names over there in the attendees section my name is Amanda Boutot, and I am the online ABA practicum coordinator.
• For this session, we're going to start with covering how the ASU online master's degree and graduate certificate programs continue to meet your upcoming BACB requirements.
• We'll talk a little bit about how to apply for the exam and obtain that Asu Transcript.
• We'll talk about information for sun devils applying to sit for the exam prior to January 1st of 2027, as well as beginning, and after January 1st, 2027.

Then I'm going to share with you a little bit about the current and upcoming changes to the supervised field work requirements, as well as how the Asu online ABA practical, which is SPE 580, how we are addressing those. And finally, we will end with a little bit of information about the BACB Task List 5th edition and the Test Content Outline 6th edition, followed by all of your questions. So I'll turn it back over to Dr. DiGangi.

• Samuel DiGangi
• 03:22
• Thank you. And the way that we've organized or our information component of this webinar is around the, I guess, thinking of it as your anticipated date of application to sit for the exam, and how to make use of this information. That might be the best way for us to organize. And we'll cover, as you can see by the information list here that Dr. Boutot just referenced, some of these are interrelated. But a way to, you know, to organize it from your own perspective, and how you can use this information, we thought well, it might be best to structure this based on when you anticipate applying to sit for the exam.
• And so with that in mind. We'll start with today. Let's say you're applying today. So for our ASU Sun Devils alumni who are applying to sit for the BCBA Exam before January 1st, 2027.
• You will, we note on this slide, you'll have your completed degree. You've completed your coursework, your behavior, analytic coursework. You'll complete 2,000 hours of supervised fieldwork from qualified supervisor, and Dr. Boutot will speak about that in a little bit more detail) and you'll complete your application. You'll have your official transcript sent from ASU’s registrar to the BACB, along with your final verification forms for supervision.
• And so this is just a quick summary of the steps. And of course, when you reach this point in the process, you are likely familiar with these steps already, and perhaps are partially completed with your application. But there's a couple of points that we want to call attention to with respect to upcoming changes with the BACB.
• And so important to note is that you're applying to qualify under what the Behavior Analyst Certification Board refers to as Pathway 2.
• So when you fill out your application, you're indicating that you are applying, and your qualification is under Pathway 2. You will have completed, or you have completed, ASU’s ABAI verified course sequence.
• That will be recognized by the BACB reviewers when your transcript is submitted, but on your application it is important that you select or indicate Pathway 2.
• If you're applying before January 1st, 2026, no attestation is needed. Your verified course sequence courses will be recognized as long as you select Pathway 2 in your portal, in the BACB portal, as your application academic qualification route or pathway.
• For those who are applying to sit for the exam after January 1st 2026, any applications will require an attestation. And that is a process that we have in place at ASU to facilitate your application. So for those who are applying after January 1st 2026, an important step is to send an email to MlftcCompliance@asu.edu, and this will be received by our office here, and indicate your BACB Id (your id number that appears in your Bacb portal), and also your name, as it appears on your BACB application. It's essential that the name that you provide us matches the name on your application.
• We then prepare and submit directly to the BACB, the Attestation on your behalf, indicating that you have completed the required academic content, academic coursework. So, very important that you provide your BACB ID and your name exactly as it appears on your BACB application to sit for the exam.
• And you'll then also submit your final verification forms for your field experience and have your official transcripts sent from the registrar of ASU.
• And if you had coursework or your degree, for those who are perhaps in the
• graduate certificate program, if your graduate degree is from another institution, you will have your official transcript from that institution directly to the BACB as part of your application process.
• Current students and alumni who plan to apply, or if you anticipate applying to sit for the exam beginning January 1st, 2027:
• On January 1st, 2027, there's an additional requirement established by the BACB for a freestanding course in organizational behavior management. And so if you are alumni of the program, or if you are currently in the program and anticipate applying to sit for the exam January 1st, 2027 onward, a freestanding course in organizational behavior management will be required. And we'll begin offering a freestanding course in organizational behavior management, “Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior Management this Summer 2025 session B. So this is something to consider if you're currently in the program, but you do not anticipate applying to sit for the exam until January 1st 2027, or after. You might consider adding this course while you are in the program.
• For those alumni who are in our audience today, if you do not anticipate applying to sit for the exam until January 1st, 2027, or after, you will need a freestanding course in organizational behavior management. And that's something that you can enroll in here beginning Summer 2025 session B.
• And now I will pass the virtual microphone to Dr. Boutot.
• Amanda Boutot:
• 11:48
• All right. So, in addition to your coursework and your graduate degree, you also have to have supervised fieldwork in order to be eligible to apply to sit for the BCBA Exam.
• The current requirements right now are a minimum of 20 hours per calendar month, and a maximum of 130 hours per calendar month, can be counted toward your total supervised field work hours. The total requirement, by the way, is 2,000 hours.
• There's a minimum of 4 contacts with your supervisor per calendar month. That just means meetings with your supervisor. 5% supervision, that's meaning time with your supervisor for the regular supervised field work hours, or 10% for concentrated field work hours, and at least one client observation per calendar month. That's the current requirements.
• Beginning January 1st, 2027, the BCBA is changing those slightly.
• This same minimum of 20 will be there per calendar month, but the maximum is increasing to 160. It's really important to note that until January 1st, 2027, the maximum is still 130. Also beginning January 1st, 2027, there will be no minimum number of contacts with your supervisor. Instead, they're going to just stick with the 5% for regular supervised fieldwork, and they're going to move it to 7.5% for concentrated fieldwork.
• And a slight change to the observation. Instead of one client observation, instead of them looking at the number of, or the frequency of observations, they're moving to a duration for observation. So for your supervised fieldwork, you will need a cumulative 60 min of observation with a client per calendar month. If you're doing concentrated field work that will be 90 cumulative minutes, and by cumulative we mean that it doesn't have to be a full hour or hour and a half, it could be two 30 minute observations, or three sets of 15 minute observations, however you and your supervisor work that out.
• The next slide, please.
• All right. So how is ASU going to be handling this? Just a little bit of information here. Students who have an approved BCBA Exam Application before January 1st 2027, regardless of when you want to take the exam, you will be approved under the current requirements. Those of you who apply, however, after January 1st of 2027, will have to have met the 2027 requirements.
• Therefore, SPE 580, the online ABA Practicum is compliant with both the current and the upcoming eligibility requirements, so that, regardless of whether you apply before January 1, 2027, or thereafter, you will meet the fieldwork eligibility requirements for both of those.
• For those of you who aren't completing your supervised fieldwork experience through SPE 580, it will be important that you're communicating with your supervisor to make sure that you guys are in compliance with those upcoming changes. So what we will be doing, what we are already doing in the practicum is, we're still requiring the 4 contacts with your supervisor per calendar month, which is part of the current requirements. We are requiring 60 min, cumulative, of client observation per calendar month. That's one of the new requirements. And we're adhering to the minimum 20 hours, and maximum 130 hours, per calendar month.
• SPE 580, the online ASU practicum only provides the 5% supervision per calendar month.
• You're muted, Dr. DiGangi.
• Samuel DiGangi
• 16:24
• Yeah, I'm new to Zoom. That's humor for our current students and alumni, of course, we're very familiar with Zoom.
• Test Content Outline 6th edition:
• We want to spend a little bit of time talking about the transition from Task List, 5th edition to Test Content Outline, 6th edition. And for those of you who have followed the progression of Task List versions over the years, in previous previous changes from versions of Task List, there has also been an accompanying change in the qualifications or the academic content requirements to sit for the BCBA Exam.
• With this change from Task List 5th edition to Test Content Outline 6th edition, there is not a change in the requirements for eligibility to sit for the exam.
• So on January 1st, 2025, the BCBA Exam is organized, based on what is now referred to as the Test Content Outline 6th edition. And so the Task List model is no longer used. The way that Test Content Outline 6th edition is structured, and its intent is, to convey the content areas and the areas of emphasis in the organization of the BCBA Exam.
• So on January 1st, 2025, the way that the content on the Exam is expressed, is now using the terminology “Test Content Outline 6th edition”.
• And so looking at the similarities and the differences between Task List 5th edition, and Test Content Outline 6th edition, you will notice that the content has not changed between these versions. Between “Task List” and between “Test Content Outline”. In Test Content Outline the intent is to express it in a more efficient way, and as you compare the two, you'll notice that the content itself has been addressed in your coursework and addressed under the task list 5th edition.
• There are 13 content areas that have new wording, and that are not a direct carryover in the way that they are expressed in Task List 5th edition. And I've put this slide up on the screen featuring the 13 Test Content Outline content areas that are added, or that are different from the way that they were expressed under Task List 5th Edition. And this is also detailed and was conveyed in the BACB’s February 2022 newsletter. For more information, I encourage you to take a look at the newsletter, it goes into a great detail in comparing the way that Test Content Outline now expresses these content areas, and also points out these 13. And as you read through these, these are these are content areas that current students are and will be aware of and familiar with, and that previous students, our alumni, are aware of.
• For example: ‘Threats to validity”, “Critiquing and interpreting data from single case experimental designs”, “Identifying the risks to one risk to oneself and others and the profession as a result of engaging in unethical behavior”. These are content areas that you are familiar with. They are now expressed in either individually or in different ways than under Task List 5th edition through these 13 content areas. So that's something you've become familiar with, certainly, but wanted to point out that with this change from Task List model to Test Content Outline 6th edition on January 1st, 2025, this does not impact your academic content eligibility to sit for the exam. It's a change in the model of conveying the content areas.