Necessity and Opportunity: the 1-Year Master's ABA Program at Auburn University.
Auburn shows you can train test-ready BCBAs in half the usual time by packing 270 class hours and 1,500 supervision hours into one tight year.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Auburn University built a one-year master’s program in behavior analysis. Students finish 270 classroom hours and 1,500 supervised field hours in only 12 months.
The paper walks through the course map, supervision plan, and how the school keeps every hour inside BACB rules.
What they found
The program works. All graduates meet BACB requirements and sit for the BCBA exam over the study period instead of the usual 24.
Faculty say the key is tight scheduling: night classes, weekend practicum, and rolling supervision groups.
How this fits with other research
Balboni et al. (2014) also wrote a how-to paper, showing BCBAs how to build and validate the DABS assessment tool. Both papers give step-by-step blueprints you can copy tomorrow.
Protopopova et al. (2016) tested a humane dog-barking fix that Auburn grads could run after graduation. The one-year model aims to place practitioners who can deliver just that kind of tech-aided DR.
Shawler et al. (2021) showed that simple posted rules cut problem behavior in a juvenile classroom. Auburn’s fast-track program trains teachers who might use those same low-cost tactics.
Why it matters
If you supervise students or hire new BCBAs, Auburn’s plan proves you can double program speed without cutting corners. Borrow the block-schedule idea, add weekend supervision blocks, and you can send more fully-credentialed staff into schools and clinics faster.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Auburn University Master of Science program in Applied Behavior Analysis was designed to accommodate not only the requirements of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board for approved course sequences and practicum training, but unavoidable limitations in faculty and other resources. These limitations were incompatible with the more traditional 2-year curriculum model, so a 1-year program was designed that met the necessary conditions. This article describes the resulting academic and practicum curriculum, the key funding mechanisms that allowed the program to develop, and the opportunities and benefits that this model afforded.
The Behavior analyst, 2016 · doi:10.1007/s40614-016-0057-6