The National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC) is an allied healthcare board certification organization which confers two national credentials and maintains a Registry for Certified Alzheimer Caregiver (CAC); and Certified Alzheimer Educator (CAEd).

The National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care has its roots in the University of Chicago, for it was a conversation after class that started the whole project. In April 2004 Janis Nowak was taking Donna Surges Tatum's class, "Persuasive Communication: Business & Professional Speaking" at the University of Chicago Graham School. As president of New Perspective, a company of seven assisted living homes for persons with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Janis discussed training the company's caregivers, and giving them a "certification" upon completion. It became apparent the "certification" was in reality a "certificate of training". Once terms were defined, there was a realization there could be a hole in this area.

Donna decided to investigate Alzheimer care. Surprisingly, there is no existing bona fide, independent, nationally recognized board that administers national standardized certification examinations following the healthcare certification/licensure model in this area of care.

Meaningful Measurement made the commitment to support the project. For the next six months, Donna and her associates used mixed-methods research. They conducted literature reviews and document searches; observations and interviews. They visited various types of facilities such as home healthcare providers, daycare centers, assisted living and nursing homes in geographically diverse areas to determine what sorts of tasks comprise the job of caring for persons with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. They concluded there is a distinct body of knowledge required to competently perform the job.

In October 2004, Meaningful Measurement organized the first meeting which was held at the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. A group of inter-disciplinary experts discussed the feasibility of developing the examinations and offering credentials for the Alzheimer caregiver and the Alzheimer educator. The decision was made to move forward. The first draft of a content guideline/job task list was produced.

In November 2004 Donna attended the National Communication Association (NCA) convention and recruited people to assist with writing test questions. Six NCA members heeded the call and went to work writing items in the areas of effectively communicating with persons who have Alzheimer's; their families; and with medical professionals. In addition they wrote questions on adult learning theories and techniques; ethics; patient rights; and basic knowledge of the disease.

Additional professionals were recruited to write questions in their areas of expertise such as knowledge of the disease; behaviors; activities; health; caregiver needs; safety; and adult learning.

Beginning February 2005, the Test Development Committee met monthly at the University of Chicago Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies to review, revise and approve test questions. Each multiple choice item is written with a stem, one right answer and three distractors. Negative construction is not used. Rationales and citations are included. Every item is coded according to Bloom's taxonomy; its content; whether it is for the caregiver or educator; and its difficulty level.

At the January 2006 meeting, the item bank was reviewed in its entirety. The test questions and test blueprint were sent out for external evaluation by experts from across the country. In June 2006 after the packets were returned, the Test Development Committee reviewed the evaluations, constructed the two examinations and set the preliminary cut score for passing.

The tests were piloted in eight states (Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona and Washington) Approximately 150 people sat for each test. The tests were scored and the data analyzed. The Test Development Committee reviewed the items and their related statistics, and revised the cut score. The official test is now available at the more than 220 Pearson VUE Professional Testing Centers across the United States and Canada...

NCBAC confers two credentials: Certified in Alzheimer Care (CAC); and Certified Alzheimer Educator (CAEd).

When candidates pass the 100-item computer based test, they are listed in a national registry confirming their certification. The CAC maintains certification with yearly renewal and six hours of continuing education credits, while the CAEd must renew yearly and have twelve hours of continuing education each year.