ABA accreditation of graduate programs of study.

Cohen et al. (1993) wrote the first rule book for ABA graduate programs. The paper lists the classes, thesis, and exam every program now needs for ABA approval.

It is a policy paper, not an experiment. No kids, no data, just the new checklist.

The authors set four must-have buckets: principles, methods, concepts, and interventions. Programs also need a behavior-analytic thesis or exam.

Meeting the list earns official ABA accreditation. Missing any part means no stamp of approval.

Rutherford et al. (2007) show the payoff: after these rules hit, ABA conference attendance and applied talks shot up. The standards seeded the wave of new BCBAs.

Mann et al. (2024) spot a gap the 1993 list missed: only one in nine programs teaches stand-alone consultation. The field still needs more coursework thirty years later.

Garza et al. (2018) fill another hole. They give ready-made supervision tools because the 1993 paper said nothing about how to mentor trainees.

These four curricular buckets are why your BCBA coursework looks the way it does. When you mentor a new student, remember the rules never spelled out how to supervise, so borrow tools from Garza et al. (2018). And if you hire fresh BCBAs, plan extra training in consultation—most programs still skip it.