Your 2026 Recertification Still Needs the Competency Assessment. The PDUs Come After.

The BACB is changing how RBTs maintain certification, and the change has been widely summarized as 12 professional development units every two years replace the annual competency assessment. That is true eventually. It is not true for your 2026 recertification, and the difference matters.

What actually applies in 2026

Per the BACB's own 2026 requirements document, you complete your 2026 recertification as usual — including the Competency Assessment. Nothing about that step has been removed this year.

What changes after that

• Your next recertification date moves to two years from your 2026 recertification.
• Across that two-year cycle you earn 12 PDUs.
• At that recertification you submit the application and, in the BACB's words, "no competency assessment is required."

How PDUs are earned

Three routes: in-service training, ACE events, and university coursework completed with a grade of C or better. You get an account for uploading PDUs when you certify or recertify.

Supervision is unchanged

Still a minimum of 5% of the hours you spend delivering behavior-analytic services in a calendar month, including two face-to-face contacts, at least one of which is an individual meeting.

What to do

If you recertify in 2026: book the competency assessment. Do not skip it on the strength of a headline. Then talk to your supervisor about a PDU plan for the cycle that follows — the BACB explicitly suggests identifying topics and opportunities in advance rather than scrambling at the end of two years.