Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) programs in Maryland help you build the graduate-level coursework and supervised training foundation you need to pursue behavior analyst certification. In Maryland, options range from campus-based cohorts with built-in practicum support to part-time formats designed for working professionals.
Schools such as University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Johns Hopkins University, and Mount St. Mary’s University offer behavior-analytic training that can align with BCBA preparation, while several reputable out-of-state universities deliver online ABA degrees that Maryland students can complete from home.
BCBA Programs in Maryland
Listed below are some of the popular schools offering BCBA programs in Maryland:
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Johns Hopkins University
- Mount St. Mary’s University
- University of Kansas
- National University
- Pepperdine University
- Walden University
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
M.A. in Human Services Psychology: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA Track)
The Applied Behavior Analysis track within the M.A. in Human Services Psychology at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a clinically focused graduate pathway built for professionals who want strong preparation in behavior-analytic assessment, intervention, and ethical practice. The program is structured to move you from foundational concepts to advanced clinical decision-making through sequenced coursework and practicum experiences.
The degree requires a minimum of 36 credit hours of graduate coursework. The plan is designed to be completed in about 2 years for students following the standard full-time sequence, while allowing additional flexibility for completion within the program’s overall time limit.
Across the curriculum, you strengthen your ability to define and measure socially significant behavior, design function-based interventions, and evaluate change using data. You also build practical skills for communicating results to caregivers, teachers, and interdisciplinary teams in ways that support treatment integrity and client dignity.
A major feature of the track is its integration of applied training with a strong professional identity. You study ethics directly and also practice ethical reasoning across coursework, clinical discussions, and practicum expectations. This approach supports day-to-day judgment in real service settings, not only test preparation.
UMBC’s ABA coursework is organized to support BCBA-aligned preparation, while also emphasizing clinical competence and professional conduct. You progress through a coherent course sequence rather than selecting unrelated classes, which can help you connect concepts like measurement, verbal behavior, and systems-level performance improvement.
To complete the degree, you also finish a capstone sequence that pushes you to apply your skills in a substantial final project. This capstone experience is designed to strengthen your ability to think like a behavior analyst by connecting literature, applied problem-solving, and data-based conclusions.
Courses and Curriculum
UMBC’s ABA track curriculum is built as a developmental sequence. Early coursework strengthens your conceptual and analytic foundation, then the program moves you into applied methods for assessment, treatment design, and evaluation. This sequencing matters because high-quality ABA work depends on fluent measurement and clear functional thinking before you scale up to complex intervention planning.
As you advance, the curriculum emphasizes clinical decision-making using data. Rather than treating data as a formality, the program trains you to collect meaningful measures, interpret patterns, and adjust interventions based on evidence. You practice aligning goals, procedures, and measurement systems so that treatment remains accountable and effective.
The curriculum also integrates professional ethics and systems considerations. You are prepared to handle real-world constraints such as caregiver training, staff performance, and organizational barriers that affect treatment implementation. This helps you build skills that translate into schools, clinics, and community settings where you may supervise or collaborate with diverse teams.
Some of the core courses that you will take include:
- PSYC 615: Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis – Design of Interventions: You learn to design behavior-change programs that are operationally defined, teachable to others, and tied to measurable outcomes. The course emphasizes selecting procedures that match client needs, planning for generalization, and building intervention packages that can be implemented with fidelity.
- PSYC 616: Measurement in Applied Behavior Analysis – Observation and Assessment: You develop competence in direct observation, data recording systems, and assessment strategies that guide clinical decisions. The course focuses on building measurement plans that are practical in real settings while still producing data you can trust.
- PSYC 663: Ethics for Applied Behavior Analysts: You study ethical responsibilities, professional conduct, and decision-making frameworks used in behavior-analytic practice. You also work through applied scenarios such as boundaries, consent, documentation, dual relationships, and supervision-related responsibilities.
- PSYC 617: Applied Behavior Analysis in Developmental Disabilities: You focus on behavior-analytic services for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, including teaching programs and behavior-reduction strategies. Emphasis is placed on humane treatment, skill-building priorities, and supporting meaningful participation in home and community routines.
- PSYC 662: Verbal Behavior: You examine how language develops and how verbal behavior concepts can guide teaching and treatment planning. The course supports practical applications such as building functional communication, reducing challenging behavior maintained by communication barriers, and strengthening learner repertoires.
- PSYC 669: Organizational Behavior Management: You learn to apply behavior analysis to staff performance and organizational systems. Topics typically include performance measurement, feedback systems, training methods, and creating environments that support consistent, high-quality service delivery.
- PSYC 693 and PSYC 694: Practicum in Applied Behavior Analysis I and II: You complete supervised applied experiences that connect coursework to real cases. Practicum work typically strengthens skills in assessment, treatment implementation, data review, and professional communication while you learn to function effectively within a service setting’s expectations.
- PSYC 793 and PSYC 794: Capstone Sequence I and II: You complete a structured capstone experience that requires applied problem-solving and evidence-based reasoning. The capstone sequence helps you practice selecting a meaningful topic, using research and data to guide conclusions, and presenting work clearly to a committee.
Practical Experience
UMBC integrates applied training through practicum coursework that places you in real service settings where behavior-analytic procedures are used with clients. During practicum, you typically practice assessment participation, data collection and graphing, treatment implementation, and caregiver or staff support activities that reinforce treatment integrity.
Practicum expectations are designed to strengthen professional behavior, documentation habits, and collaborative communication. You learn how to operate within the constraints of service environments while still protecting client dignity and maintaining a data-driven approach to decision-making.
Learning Outcomes
- Design behavior-change programs using operational definitions, measurable goals, and clear implementation steps.
- Select and apply observation and measurement systems that produce reliable, clinically useful data.
- Conduct ethically grounded decision-making using professional standards and applied judgment.
- Interpret data patterns to evaluate progress and revise interventions based on evidence.
- Apply verbal behavior concepts to build functional communication and instructional programs.
- Use behavior-analytic principles to improve staff performance and service systems through OBM strategies.
- Demonstrate professional communication skills for collaborating with families, schools, and interdisciplinary teams.
- Complete a capstone experience that integrates literature, applied reasoning, and data-based conclusions.
Career Preparation & Outcomes
This track is designed to prepare you for behavior-analytic roles in clinics, schools, community programs, and human services organizations. Your training supports competence in assessment-informed planning, intervention implementation, and data-based treatment evaluation, along with professional and ethical practice expectations that employers prioritize.
Graduates often pursue roles such as behavior analyst in training, behavior specialist, clinical program coordinator, or ABA service provider in autism and developmental disability settings.
With additional required supervised fieldwork and credential steps, you may pursue BCBA certification and later expand into supervision, program leadership, or specialized service lines such as feeding, severe behavior, or systems-level performance improvement.
Admissions Requirements
- Unofficial transcripts evaluated by the program (with a minimum GPA of 3.0).
- Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV).
- Three letters of recommendation (academic and work-related preferred).
- Statement of Purpose (typically limited to two pages).
- Optional writing sample (for example, literature review, thesis, or research summary).
- GRE is not required for the ABA M.A. admissions process.
- Interview(s) related to practicum placement may be required.
Johns Hopkins University
Master of Science in Special Education – Severe Disabilities with an Emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis
The Johns Hopkins University offers a Master of Science in Special Education focused on Severe Disabilities with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). This program is built for educators and school-based professionals who want specialized preparation in evidence-based ABA practices within special education contexts.
The degree is a 36-credit master’s option that is designed for part-time study. The program is commonly structured as two courses per semester across fall, spring, and summer, which supports steady progression while you continue working.
Many students can complete the program in about 2 years through year-round enrollment, with additional time if you choose to add practicum electives. The university also notes a longer completion window is available, allowing you to finish within the program’s maximum timeframe if you need a slower pace.
A key strength of this pathway is how it connects ABA methodology to real educational needs for learners who require intensive supports. You focus on designing instruction and interventions, addressing challenging behaviors through assessment-informed planning, and using data to evaluate progress over time.
The curriculum includes ABA coursework delivered in a synchronous online format and special education courses that may be available online or on campus depending on offerings. This structure supports professional engagement and interaction while still providing flexibility for working educators.
If you want to pursue BCBA-related fieldwork preparation, the program offers an optional practicum sequence designed to support fieldwork expectations. This option is coordinated through the program, includes supervision, and is limited to students who can participate in placements in the Baltimore to Washington, DC area.
Courses and Curriculum
Johns Hopkins structures this emphasis so you build behavior-analytic competence in a deliberate sequence rather than taking disconnected courses. You begin with a foundation in ABA and special education, then develop research literacy and single-case evaluation skills so you can make decisions using evidence and data rather than assumptions.
As you progress, the curriculum emphasizes assessment-driven planning for both challenging behaviors and instruction. You learn to connect behavioral function to intervention selection, design teaching strategies that match learner needs, and evaluate outcomes using practical measurement systems suited for real classrooms and service environments.
The program also emphasizes ethical decision-making and supervision-related competence. This includes professional conduct expectations, responsible support of implementation teams, and organizational behavior management strategies that help interventions work consistently across staff, schedules, and school systems.
Some of the core courses that you will take include:
- ED.873.601 – Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis and Special Education (3 credits)
You develop a strong conceptual foundation in ABA while learning how behavior-analytic methods fit within special education service delivery. The course helps you translate principles into educationally relevant goals, define target behaviors clearly, and align interventions with learner needs in school settings. - ED.873.602 – Research Methods: Evaluation, Measurement and Single Case Design (3 credits)
You build practical competence in evaluation methods used in ABA, including single-case design logic, measurement selection, and data interpretation. You practice making defensible decisions based on repeated measurement and learn how to judge whether an intervention is producing meaningful change. - ED.873.603 – Behavioral Assessment and Intervention for Challenging Behaviors (3 credits)
You learn to assess challenging behavior using systematic approaches and connect assessment results to function-based interventions. The course emphasizes intervention planning that is realistic for educational environments, including strategies for prevention, teaching replacement skills, and supporting durable behavior change. - ED.873.604 – Behavioral Assessment and Instructional Strategies (3 credits)
You focus on assessment-informed instruction and how to design teaching plans that build academic, adaptive, and functional skills. Coursework commonly strengthens your ability to operationalize teaching targets, plan prompting and reinforcement systems, and evaluate skill acquisition with data. - ED.873.605 – Ethics and Professional Conduct for Behavior Analysts (3 credits)
You practice ethical reasoning and professional decision-making in scenarios that reflect real service delivery challenges. The course strengthens competence in boundaries, consent, documentation expectations, stakeholder communication, and responsible scope-of-competence choices. - ED.873.606 – Applications of Applied Behavior Analysis in the Classroom (3 credits)
You apply ABA principles to classroom contexts, focusing on designing supports that can be implemented with fidelity across teams. The course emphasizes strategies for instruction, behavior support, and progress monitoring that fit common school routines and constraints. - ED.873.607 – Supervision and Organizational Behavior Management (3 credits)
You develop skills related to supervision, consultation, and systems-level implementation. The course emphasizes staff performance support, training methods, feedback systems, and practical strategies that strengthen treatment integrity and program consistency. - ED.873.610 – Applied Behavior Analysis Practicum I (Elective) (3 credits)
If you elect the practicum option, you complete supervised applied experiences that connect coursework to real educational service settings. Practicum work typically supports skill development in implementation planning, data review routines, and professional communication while you build supervised experience under program coordination.
Popular Elective Courses
- ED.871.510 – Legal Aspects, Service Systems, and Current Issues in Special Education
- ED.871.511 – Instructional Planning and Management in Special Education
- ED.871.512 – Collaborative Programming in Special Education
- ED.877.551 – Survey of Autism and Other Pervasive Developmental Disorders
- ED.877.555 – Teaching Communication and Social Skills
- ED.877.513 – Education of Students with Severe Disabilities: Augmentative Communication Systems
Practical Experience
The program offers an optional sequence of practicum electives designed to support supervised, real-world experience in educational settings. This practicum option includes both individual and group supervision and a face-to-face seminar component with an instructor. Placements are coordinated through the practicum coordinator and faculty advisor, and availability is limited to candidates in the Maryland and Washington, DC area.
Practicum electives are typically completed during the second and third year of the program. If you pursue this route, you can align your applied learning with ongoing coursework and strengthen readiness for professional responsibilities such as implementation support, staff coaching, and data-based program refinement.
Learning Outcomes
- Define and apply core concepts and principles of behavior analysis within educational settings.
- Use evaluation and measurement methods, including single-case design logic, to judge intervention effectiveness.
- Conduct behavioral assessment activities that inform function-based intervention planning.
- Design and implement evidence-based interventions for challenging behavior in school environments.
- Develop instructional strategies and teaching programs grounded in behavior-analytic principles.
- Apply ethical and professional conduct standards to decisions in behavior-analytic service delivery.
- Use supervision and organizational behavior management strategies to improve implementation fidelity.
- Collaborate with educators, families, and interdisciplinary teams to support student outcomes and program consistency.
Career Preparation & Outcomes
This program prepares you for roles where ABA and special education intersect, including behavior analyst roles in schools, behavior support specialist positions, special education program leadership, and consultation-focused work supporting students with intensive needs. Your training emphasizes function-based planning, classroom application, ethical practice, and data-based decisions that employers value in educational service systems.
Admissions Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree from a regionally or nationally accredited college or university.
- Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in all prior undergraduate and graduate study.
- Completed online application form.
- $80 application fee.
- Resume or CV uploaded in the application.
- Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended.
- Uploaded essay, including a 500-word statement on goals, fit, and background strengths and weaknesses.
- Two letters of recommendation from individuals who can speak to your work with children with disabilities.
- Interview (in-person, Zoom, or phone) for applicants who meet admission requirements.
Application Deadlines
The program lists a July 15 application deadline with a Fall start term for the Severe Disabilities (Applied Behavior Analysis) option.
Mount St. Mary’s University
Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis (MSABA)
The Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis at Mount St. Mary’s University is designed for you if you want graduate-level preparation in ABA that connects scientific principles to practical service delivery across clinical and educational settings. The program emphasizes behavior assessment, intervention design, ethical practice, and data-based decision-making so you can plan and evaluate meaningful behavior change.
You complete 42 credit hours of coursework, which includes 36 hours of classroom instruction and 6 hours of supervised fieldwork, along with a practicum experience and a capstone research project. This structure helps you build both conceptual fluency and applied competence while you progress through a coherent course sequence.
The program is built to be workable for professionals. Many classroom courses are offered in eight-week semesters, and instruction is available either in person at the Frederick, Maryland campus or online in a synchronous format via Zoom. This format supports live interaction, structured learning routines, and consistent faculty feedback.
In terms of length, the university notes that the course sequence can be completed in less than two years for a full-time plan, while a part-time and reduced course-load sequence is also available. That flexibility can help you manage fieldwork planning and work commitments without losing momentum in the curriculum.
Throughout the program, you strengthen skills that are central to behavior-analytic practice: defining behavior precisely, selecting meaningful measures, interpreting graphed data, and choosing interventions that match behavioral function and learner needs. The program also highlights ongoing faculty support and progress monitoring, which can help you stay accountable to skill development over time.
The MSABA is structured to support students pursuing BCBA preparation through graduate coursework and supervised fieldwork planning, while also preparing you for roles such as behavior support professional, specialist, or practitioner working in healthcare and education environments.
You also complete a capstone research experience that strengthens your ability to apply literature and data to real service problems.
Courses and Curriculum
Mount St. Mary’s University organizes the MSABA curriculum as a sequenced pathway that develops your competence step by step. Instead of treating ABA knowledge as isolated topics, the program connects theory, assessment, and intervention so you can understand how decisions in one area affect outcomes in another. This helps you build the kind of clinical reasoning you need when working with complex behavior patterns in real settings.
A major emphasis is measurement and evaluation. You learn to choose data systems that fit the behavior and the environment, collect data consistently, and use visual analysis to identify trends and inform next steps. The curriculum also strengthens your ability to design interventions that are not only effective in concept, but also realistic to implement with treatment integrity in homes, schools, clinics, and community programs.
Ethical and professional conduct is integrated into the coursework and reinforced through applied expectations. You learn how to make responsible decisions about scope of practice, supervision, documentation, and stakeholder communication. As you progress, organizational behavior management concepts and verbal behavior instruction support more advanced work, including staff performance support and language-related teaching strategies.
Some of the core courses that you will take include:
- MSABA 600 – Principles and Concepts of Behavior Analysis: You build a strong foundation in behavioral principles such as reinforcement, extinction, motivating operations, stimulus control, and punishment procedures. The course emphasizes how to translate concepts into applied decisions, including how to define behavior clearly and align procedures with measurable outcomes.
- MSABA 601 – Research Design, Measurement, and Data Analysis: You learn how to evaluate behavior-change programs using single-case logic, practical measurement systems, and visual analysis. The course strengthens your ability to detect meaningful change, identify threats to validity, and use data to justify continuing, modifying, or discontinuing an intervention plan.
- MSABA 602 – Ethical and Professional Conduct: You study ethical responsibilities and professional behavior expected in ABA service delivery. Coursework focuses on decision-making practices related to consent, confidentiality, documentation, boundaries, client dignity, and responsible behavior when coordinating with families, schools, and clinical teams.
- MSABA 603 – Behavior Assessment: You develop skills in assessment strategies used to identify behavioral function and intervention priorities. You practice organizing indirect and direct assessment inputs, selecting observation methods, and turning assessment information into a clear plan for prevention, teaching, and behavior reduction.
- MSABA 604 – Behavioral Theory and Philosophy: You examine the conceptual foundations of behavior analysis, including how scientific assumptions guide practice decisions. This course helps you think critically about why procedures work, how to interpret behavioral patterns, and how to communicate behavioral explanations clearly and professionally.
- MSABA 605 – Behavioral Intervention
You learn to design intervention packages that include antecedent strategies, skill-building procedures, and reinforcement-based systems. The course emphasizes matching interventions to function, planning for generalization and maintenance, and creating procedures that can be implemented consistently by caregivers and staff. - MSABA 606 – Introduction to Organizational Behavior Management Supervision: You apply behavior analysis to staff performance and organizational systems. Topics typically include performance measurement, training procedures, feedback and coaching systems, and ways to reduce implementation barriers so that services remain consistent and effective across teams.
- MSABA 607 – Verbal Behavior: You study language development and instruction through a behavior-analytic lens. The course supports practical application for functional communication training, teaching language repertoires, and designing instruction that reduces communication-related barriers to learning and behavior regulation.
Popular Elective Courses
- MSABA 608 – Introduction to Experimental Analysis
- MSABA 609 – Practicum
- MSABA 614 – Current Practice Issues in ABA
Practical Experience
Practical training is built into the MSABA through supervised fieldwork credits, a practicum experience, and applied assignments connected to coursework. You are expected to develop professional routines for observation, data collection, graphing, and treatment integrity while receiving structured guidance and feedback.
The program also emphasizes fieldwork planning aligned with BCBA preparation expectations. You can complete supervised fieldwork during the program or continue accruing hours after graduation, depending on your timeline and placement logistics. This flexibility can help you align fieldwork with employment settings while maintaining consistent progress toward professional goals.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply foundational behavior-analytic principles to interpret and influence socially significant behavior.
- Select measurement systems that produce reliable, meaningful data across service settings.
- Use single-case research logic and visual analysis to evaluate intervention effectiveness.
- Conduct behavior assessment activities that inform function-based intervention planning.
- Design intervention plans that emphasize skill-building, prevention, and reinforcement-based support.
- Demonstrate ethical and professional decision-making consistent with behavior-analytic service expectations.
- Apply organizational behavior management strategies to strengthen staff performance and treatment integrity.
- Use verbal behavior concepts to build functional communication and instructional programming.
Career Preparation & Outcomes
This program prepares you for professional work in ABA-focused roles such as behavior support specialist, interventionist, program coordinator, or practitioner supporting individuals with autism, developmental disabilities, and other behavioral or learning needs in clinical and educational systems. You also strengthen skills in data-based decision-making, ethical practice, and implementation support that employers value in service organizations. The university’s graduation rate is 64%.
Admissions Requirements
- Completed online application.
- Bachelor’s degree from a regionally or nationally accredited college or university.
- Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in all prior undergraduate and graduate study.
- Official transcript from all undergraduate institutions.
- Official transcript showing a graduate degree (required only if you are applying to the post-degree certificate option).
- Additional materials may be required for international students.
Application Deadlines
Admissions are rolling, and classes begin every semester. For priority consideration, suggested deadlines include August 1 for MSABA fall start, December 1 for spring start, and April 1 for summer start.
National University
Master of Science in Applied Behavioral Analysis (Online)
The Master of Science in Applied Behavioral Analysis at National University is an online graduate degree designed for students seeking a flexible pathway into advanced behavior analysis study.
This program blends theory and application so you can develop skills in assessment, intervention design, measurement systems, ethics, and supervision. The curriculum supports your preparation for future BCBA certification steps by helping you master content areas aligned with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s standards.
You complete 45 quarter units of graduate-level ABA coursework. National University uses a quarter unit system, which means the structure of each course is focused and paced to help you make steady progress toward the degree. Full-time students often complete the program in approximately 20 months, while part-time pacing can extend completion up to two years or more depending on individual schedules.
The program is delivered fully online so you can complete coursework from anywhere with internet access. Courses are structured in focused terms with multiple start dates each year so you can begin study without waiting for traditional semester cycles. This flexibility is particularly useful for working professionals who wish to fit graduate study around work and family commitments.
Across the curriculum, you strengthen your ability to define and measure behavior precisely, use data to make informed decisions, and select effective interventions tailored to client needs. You also build professional skills in ethical decision-making, treatment integrity, and stakeholder communication.
National University’s ABA program also emphasizes applied competence by including courses with project-based learning, case analysis activities, and real-world examples that help you link classroom concepts to practice. While supervised fieldwork hours are not completed through the degree itself, the coursework helps prepare you academically for external fieldwork placements that meet BCBA eligibility requirements.
Graduates leave the program with strong analytical and communication skills and can pursue roles in behavior analysis related service fields while building the supervised experience required for full BCBA certification.
Courses and Curriculum
The MS in Applied Behavioral Analysis curriculum at National University begins with foundational courses that introduce the language, assumptions, and measurement logic of applied behavior analysis. Early courses focus on understanding behavior change fundamentals, selecting measurement systems, and applying practical design logic that you will use throughout the remainder of the program.
As you move forward, courses build in complexity and emphasis, requiring you to design intervention plans that match assessment findings, select procedures based on data, and plan for generalization of skills across individuals and settings. This progression helps you practice linking decisions throughout the treatment process so outcomes remain accountable and meaningful.
Later coursework strengthens your professional competence by emphasizing ethical and professional standards, supervisory approaches, and systems-level considerations that impact service delivery. You also engage with case analysis and project assignments that simulate real-world ABA practice and communication.
Some of the core courses that you will take include:
- ABA 620 – Terminology and Concepts in ABA: You master behavior-analytic vocabulary and concepts so you can define behavior precisely, communicate professionally, and apply ABA principles consistently across applied contexts.
- ABA 624 – Measurement and Design: You learn how to select and apply measurement systems that provide reliable data, use research design logic to evaluate behavior change, and interpret graphed outcomes to make timely decisions.
- ABA 626 – Functional Behavioral Assessment: You practice assessment methods used to determine why behavior occurs and how environmental variables influence behavior patterns, connecting assessment results to intervention planning.
- ABA 628 – Behavior Change Procedures: You explore evidence-based procedures for teaching new skills and reducing problem behavior while maintaining ethical and contextual fit with learner goals and needs.
- ABA 630 – Behavior Change Systems: You study how to organize systematic approaches that combine intervention components, reinforcement systems, and maintenance strategies so services remain effective over time.
- ABA 632 – Ethical and Professional Conduct: You learn to analyze ethical challenges and apply professional standards to decisions related to consent, documentation, supervision boundaries, and communication with stakeholders.
- ABA 634 – Supervision and Management: You develop skills related to supervising behavior technicians, providing feedback, and managing service delivery so the quality of implementation is maintained across individuals and contexts.
- ABA 636 – Advanced Applications in ABA Practice: You integrate assessment, intervention, and supervision concepts through case-based projects that simulate professional practice scenarios so you can refine analytical and communication skills.
Practical Experience
National University’s MS in ABA prepares you academically for external supervised fieldwork rather than embedding supervised hours within coursework. Many students arrange fieldwork placements in clinics, schools, residential programs, or community agencies while completing coursework so they can accumulate experience that meets BCBA eligibility requirements.
Students often apply classroom projects and case applications directly to fieldwork settings, which helps strengthen behavior analytic routines such as operational definitions, reliability checks, data-based decision-making, and professional communication.
Learning Outcomes
- Define and use behavior-analytic terminology accurately in professional communication.
- Select and apply appropriate measurement systems to monitor behavior change.
- Conduct functional behavior assessments that inform intervention planning.
- Design evidence-based behavior intervention plans aligned with assessment results.
- Apply ethical principles and professional conduct standards in decision-making.
- Implement supervisory and management practices that support service quality.
- Interpret data using single-case logic to guide intervention evaluation.
- Integrate assessment, intervention, and ethical decision-making in case scenarios.
Career Preparation & Outcomes
National University’s MS in Applied Behavioral Analysis equips you for roles that involve consultation, assessment support, intervention planning, and behavior support services in educational, clinical, and community contexts. The degree builds your professional competence in areas related to service delivery routines, ethical practice, and analytical reasoning that employers value in behavior-analytic environments. National University’s graduation rate is 41 percent.
Admissions Requirements
- Completed online graduate application.
- Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.
- Official transcripts from all institutions attended.
- Minimum cumulative GPA of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale in all prior undergraduate and graduate study.
Application Deadlines
National University accepts graduate applications year-round with multiple start dates throughout the year. Because of this flexible calendar, you can apply and begin study at the next available term without waiting for traditional semester start dates.
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