BCBA Fieldwork Requirements for 2027, Explained

This is the fieldwork section of the BCBA Handbook and the 2027 requirements, condensed into what you need to know to log hours correctly. Numbers below are the 2027 values, which apply to anyone who submits a certification application on or after January 1, 2027. Where 2027 changed something, the old value is noted.

The numbers

The supervisory period is one calendar month. Every monthly requirement is evaluated per month, per supervision contract. If a month fails any of them, the hours from that month do not count.

The 60% unrestricted rule is the exception. It applies to your total accumulated hours, not to each month.

Before you can log a single hour

You need all three of these in place first:

1. A qualified supervisor. An active BCBA with no disciplinary sanctions who has completed the 8-hour supervision training and is current on supervision CEUs. If certified for less than a year, they must also receive monthly consultation from a consulting supervisor. Check both in the BACB Certificant Registry.
2. A signed supervision contract. One per supervisor, or a single contract covering multiple supervisors at the same organization, as long as it spells out each supervisor's role and everyone signs it. Hours logged before the contract is signed do not count.
3. Your first behavior-analytic graduate course has started. You can begin accruing hours after the first class meeting, and you must earn a C or better in that course for the hours to count.

Your supervisor cannot be related to you, be your subordinate, be employed by you, or have another personal or business relationship with you. Paying a supervisor for supervision is fine.

Who counts as a client

A client is any person or group for whom behavior-analytic services are appropriate, in any setting. Two conditions:

• You and your supervisor must both have a formal relationship with the client. You work at the same organization serving the client, you each have a service contract with the client, or you both have a contract with the organization where the client is served.
• You cannot be related to the client, be the client's primary caregiver, or be related to the primary caregiver.

You are also expected to work with multiple clients across your fieldwork, and be observed with more than one.

Restricted vs. unrestricted activities

This is the distinction most trainees get wrong, and it is the one that can cost you hundreds of hours at the end.

Restricted activities are delivering therapeutic and instructional procedures directly to a client. Running a skill acquisition program. Implementing a behavior reduction plan. Collecting data solely as part of a client's treatment session. This is most of what an RBT does all day.

Unrestricted activities are the things a BCBA does. The handbook's examples:

• Observation and data collection (when it informs programming, not just treatment delivery)
• Training staff and caregivers on behavior-analytic programs or content
• Conducting assessments related to the need for behavioral intervention
• Meeting with clients about behavior-analytic programming and services
• Conducting behavior-analytic assessments such as functional analyses and preference assessments
• Data graphing and analysis
• Researching the literature relevant to a current client's programming
• Writing and revising behavior-analytic programs

The same task can fall on either side depending on why you are doing it. Data collection during a treatment session is restricted. Data collection during a functional assessment to decide future programming is unrestricted. When it is unclear, your supervisor decides, and the BACB will not rule on individual activities.

The limit: restricted activities may be no more than 40% of your total. There is no minimum. On the 2,000-hour track that means at least 1,200 unrestricted hours. If your job is direct implementation, you will hit 800 restricted hours long before you hit 1,200 unrestricted, and every restricted hour after that is wasted. Plan the ratio from month one.

What does not count

Only behavior-analytic activities specific to a client count. The handbook lists what does not:

• Conferences, workshops, or university courses
• Homework, readings, and quizzes for your coursework
• Meetings with little or no behavior-analytic content
• Interventions not based in behavior analysis
• Non-behavior-analytic administrative work
• Non-behavior-analytic trainings such as crisis management, CPR, or billing systems
• Diagnostic or intellectual assessments, paperwork, documentation, or billing not directly related to behavior analysis
• Listening to podcasts
• Role-playing procedures that are not tied to a real client

Studying for the exam does not count either.

Supervision

Supervision is a percentage of the hours you logged that month, so a heavy month needs more supervision. A 120-hour Supervised month needs 6 hours; the same month on the Concentrated track needs 9.

Individual vs. group. At least half of your supervision time each month must be one-on-one. Group supervision is 2 to 10 trainees with similar experiences; the cap is 10 regardless of how many supervisors are in the room. Unless you are at an organization with multiple supervisors under one contract, the same supervisor must provide both your individual and group supervision.

Observation. Each month at least one supervisor must observe you working with a client. In person is preferred, but live video or recorded video both count. Under the 2027 rules this is measured in cumulative minutes, 60 for Supervised and 90 for Concentrated, so two short observations can add up.

Observation can count three ways at once. If your supervisor watches you live and gives real-time feedback, that time counts toward observation, supervision, and fieldwork hours together. If they watch a recording without discussing it with you, it counts toward observation only.

Combining Supervised and Concentrated

You can accrue Supervised Fieldwork in one month and Concentrated in another, but only one type per month per contract. To check your progress with mixed hours, multiply Concentrated hours by 1.33, add Supervised hours, and aim for 2,000. Record only actual hours on the forms; the multiplier is for your own math.

Multiple settings and supervisors

You can accrue hours at more than one site or with more than one supervisor, but every site and every contract must meet all the monthly requirements on its own. If you have 15 hours at one site and 15 at another in the same month, neither site has met the 20-hour minimum, and neither month counts.

Documentation

You must be able to produce all of this if the BACB audits you. For every session, record the date, start and end time, fieldwork type, supervisor name, and whether the activity was restricted or unrestricted. For every supervision contact, also record whether it was individual or group and a summary of what was covered. For every observation, record the setting.

Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form (M-FVF). One per month, per supervision contract, signed by you and your supervisor. It must be signed by the last day of the month following the month it covers. Anyone applying on or after January 1, 2027 must use the 2027 version. Outdated or non-BACB forms are rejected.

Final Fieldwork Verification Form (F-FVF). One per supervision contract at the end of that experience, built from the signed monthly forms. This is what you submit with your application. Taking a break under the same contract starts a new experience and a new F-FVF.

Retention. Keep the contract, all session logs, and all signed forms for at least seven years after certification. This is your responsibility, not your employer's.

Time limit

All fieldwork must be completed within five continuous years, counted by calendar month. Breaks are allowed inside that window, but the window does not pause. At the 20-hour monthly minimum, 2,000 hours takes more than eight years, so the minimum pace is not a plan. You need to average about 35 hours a month to finish in five years, and more than that to leave a margin.

Keeping track

Every requirement above except the unrestricted percentage is checked month by month, and most trainees find out about a failed month after it closes. TactiTracker checks each month against the 2027 thresholds as you log, separates restricted from unrestricted hours, tracks observation minutes and the individual-to-group split, and fills in the M-FVF for your supervisor to sign by email. Free to start.