Essential content for training behavior analysis practitioners.

Einfeld et al. (1995) mailed a survey to 265 behavior analysts across the United States. They asked each expert to list every skill a new BCBA must master. The team kept sorting answers until 108 tasks earned group agreement.

The year was 1995. No BACB exam yet. The goal was to build the first shared training map.

The survey produced a 108-item checklist. Items ranged from graphing data to writing goals. The list became the blueprint for later BACB task lists and university courses.

Ragulan et al. (2025) used the same survey style thirty years later. They found ethics training still feels thin. The 1995 list had no stand-alone ethics section, so the gap makes sense.

Wheeler et al. (2024) and Kazemi et al. (2022) show BCBAs now want trauma and conflict skills. These topics are missing from the 108 tasks. The field has outgrown the original map.

Plattner et al. (2023) surveyed 277 BCBAs and found most feel under-trained in therapeutic rapport. Again, the 1995 list did not mention alliance skills. The old consensus still guides coursework, but newer surveys keep adding must-have content.

The 108-task list still shapes supervision plans and syllabi. Use it as your base, then layer on the gaps newer surveys reveal. Add explicit ethics case reviews, trauma-informed steps, and caregiver rapport drills. Update your supervision checklist so new BCBAs leave ready for today’s needs, not 1995’s.