Program Characteristics and Certification Examination Pass Rates: A Statistical Analysis of BACB-Published 2015–2019 Data

Abstract

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) annually publishes data on the pass rates of institutions with verified course sequences (VCS). The current study analyzed BACB-published data from the years 2015-2019 and explored relations among program mode, number of first-time candidates, and examination pass rates. In a correlation analysis of number of first-time candidates and pass rates, there was a weak negative correlation, indicating that larger numbers of first-time candidates are associated with lower pass rates. Further, statistically significant differences were found among the mean number of first-time candidates, mean pass rates, and mean number of passing first-time candidates across program modes. Campus and hybrid programs had higher mean pass rates than distance programs, whereas distance programs had higher numbers of passing firsttime candidates than campus programs. External validity and implications for indicators of program quality are discussed.

Examining trends in certification examination pass rates across 8 years of behavior analyst certification board-published data.

“…Guinness and Turner (2022) found a weak, negative correlation between number of first-time candidates and pass rate for data aggregated across the years 2015–2019; that is, as the number of first-time candidates increased, the mean pass rate decreased. The current study found similar statistically significant correlations between first-time candidates and mean pass rate for only the years 2016, 2020, and 2021, but not for the remaining years.…”

“…One notable finding included a regression model revealing that providing coursework on campus predicted an increase of 11.06% points on a program's pass rate. Guinness and Turner (2022) examined the 2015-2019 BACB pass rate data and relations among different graduate program characteristics. Using a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis, Guinness and Turner focused on the number of first-time test-takers from a graduate program and that program's pass rate and found a statistically significant, weak negative correlation.…”

“…Previous research examining relations among program characteristics and pass rates focused on data from a single year (e.g., Shepley et al, 2018) or aggregated across several years (Guinness & Turner, 2022). Among other analyses, Dubuque and Kazemi (2022) presented pass rate data from 2013 to 2020 across time.…”

“…The purpose of the current study was to replicate Guinness and Turner (2022) by evaluating the extent to which there were statistically significant (a) correlations between number of first-time candidates and pass rate, (b) differences in mean pass rate across program modes, and (c) differences in number of candidates across program modes, while analyzing each calendar year 2014-2021 individually to assess trend over time. To extend previous work, we also sought to visually analyze trends across program modes in (a) the number of programs reporting pass rate data, (b) mean pass rates, (c) mean number of first-time candidates, and (d) total number of first-time candidates across this 8-year period.…”