CEUniverse

BACB Continuing Education Requirements for BCBAs & BcABAs

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs) must meet specific requirements for every two-year recertification cycle, as outlined in the BCBA Handbook and the BCaBA Handbook. The continuing education requirements for BCBAs and BCaBAs are outlined below for your convenience.

Since our primary mission at CEUniverse is to help BCBAs and BCaBAs get high-quality CEUs in an easy and cost-effective manner, we have created several bundles specially designed to help you meet your recertification requirements. You can also build your own bundle or purchase individual modules as needed.

Requirements for BCBAs (Non-Supervisors)

CEUs Required	Affordable Bundle
32 Total CEUs	Cosmic Bundle (includes ethics)
4 Ethics CEUs	Lunar Bundle (ethics only)

Requirements for BCBAs (Supervisors)

CEUs Required	Affordable Bundle
32 Total CEUs	Galactic Bundle (includes ethics & supervision)
4 Ethics CEUs	Lunar Bundle (ethics only)
3 Supervision CEUs	Solar Bundle (supervision only)

We also offer a Planetary Bundle that covers both ethics and supervision!

Requirements for BCaBAs (Non-Supervisors)

CEUs Required	Affordable Bundle
20 Total CEUs	Celestial Bundle (includes ethics)
4 Ethics CEUs	Lunar Bundle (ethics only)

Requirements for BCaBAs (Supervisors)

CEUs Required	Affordable Bundle
20 Total CEUs	Supernova Bundle (includes ethics & supervision)
4 Ethics CEUs	Lunar Bundle (ethics only)
3 Supervision CEUs	Solar Bundle (supervision only)

We also offer a Planetary Bundle that covers both ethics and supervision!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the different types of CEUs?

The BACB identifies three different types of CEUs: Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship. Your CEUs can come from any of these categories and there are no restrictions or limitations on the number you can earn from each category. For example, each of these would be an acceptable combination:

All 32 CEUs from the Learning category
All 32 CEUs from the Teaching category
All 32 CEUs from the Scholarship category
10 CEUs from the Learning category, 20 CEUs from the Teaching category, and 2 CEUs from the Scholarship category
20 CEUs from the Learning category, 12 CEUs from the Teaching category, and 0 CEUs from the Scholarship category

What type of CEUs does CEUniverse provide?

As an Approved Continuing Education (ACE) Provider, all of our CEUs fall under the Learning category.

Do the ethics and supervision CEUs count toward the 32 total CEUs required?

Yes, they are included in the total of 32 total CEUs required.

Can a CEU count as both ethics and supervision?

No. Although some CEUs may be counted as either an ethics CEU or a supervision CEU, it cannot be counted as both for recertification purposes.

Can I repeat a CEU?

No (at least not for recertification purposes). Although you are certainly welcome to repeat a CEU module you have already completed on CEUniverse, it cannot count toward recertification twice because it does not serve the goal of expanding your knowledge or skills.

If I complete more than 32 CEUs, can I apply the excess number to my next recertification cycle?

No, the BACB does not allow this.

What changes are coming to the BCBA CEU requirements?

Beginning in 2027, the BCBA CEU requirements will be changing. While the total number of CEUs required (32) will remain the same for the two-year cycle, supervisors will be required to complete 4 supervision CEUs (instead of the current 3) and everyone will be required to complete 2 CEUs focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). See the BACB March 2022 newsletter for more information about these changes.

Have a question about the BACB’s CEU requirements or how CEUniverse can help you meet them?
Let us know!

Calculating the Number of BCBA CEUs for Self-Paced, Asynchronous Content

The number of CEUs provided for a continuing education event for Board Certified Behavior Analysts must adhere to the guidelines established by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board:

Each event must include a minimum of 25 minutes of instruction, for which 0.5 CEUs are awarded. Additional CEUs should be awarded in increments of .5 (25 minutes of instruction) or 1.0 (50 minutes of instruction). For example, 50 minutes = 1 CEU; 75 minutes = 1.5 CEUs; 100 minutes = 2 CEUs; and so on. Rounding up is not permitted when issuing CEUs.

These guidelines make perfect sense for live, in-person, and synchronous learning events. They are less clear for the on-demand, self-paced, and asynchronous learning events that we publish. There can be a lot of variability in completion time when dealing with self-paced content, particularly if it involves mastery learning or adaptive instruction (as most of our modules do). For example, we have some modules that some people complete in 3 hours, but other people complete in 10 hours.

In determining the number of CEUs we provide for our modules, we try to strike a balance between the expected time to completion and the amount of content or number of objectives covered. Several data points factor into our calculations:

The amount of text to be read (or listened to)
The length of any videos or other media elements included
The number of interactions required during practice activities or assessment
Historical time-to-completion data recorded by our system for previous users of the module
Self-reported time-to-completion data reported by previous users of the module

We have considered awarding credit based on actual time to completion, but there are two key problems with that. The first problem is that accurately measuring time to completion in a self-paced, online format is pretty difficult. We still try to do it (you may notice a “are you still here?” prompt pop up occasionally while you’re working on our modules), but there are serious limitations to consider. The second problem is that it punishes learning quickly and reinforces learning slowly. Someone who can complete a module and master its content in just 3 hours would only get about 3.5 CEUs, whereas someone who takes 10 hours to complete it would earn 12 CEUs. That doesn’t seem fair and raises a related problem of how to sell and price an event without a predetermined number of CEUs to be awarded.

Thus, we do our best to standardize the number of CEUs available per module in accordance with the BACB’s guidelines by using the best evidence we have available to us. If you ever disagree with the number of CEUs awarded for a module, please let us know by completing the survey at the end of every module (there is a question on it specifically about whether the number of CEUs offered seems appropriate).

Do you have any suggestions of other strategies we should use to determine the number of CEUs for our modules? If you are a provider of self-paced, asynchronous CEUs, how do you determine the number of CEUs to offer?

BCBA CEU Requirements