Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
ABAI Education Board
By Charles Merbitz
The mission of the Education Board is to develop, improve, and disseminate best practices in the recruitment, training, and professional development of behavior analysis.
Summary of Activities, 2008-2009
This year was extremely busy for the Education Board. The majority of activity revolved around development of new accreditation standards. A meeting was held during December in Chicago to develop a draft document for circulation and further refinement. Representatives of the ABAI Science, Practice, Membership, and Education Boards (Michael J. Dougher, Linda J. Parrott Hayes, Philip N. Hineline, Chuck Merbitz, Jay Moore, Maria Malott, and Edward K. Morris) met to align the goals of these Boards and, more specifically, to set direction for developments of the Education Board. Additional teleconferences and document drafts were circulated, resulting in the current draft. It should be noted that Dr. Malott played a strong leadership role in its development and refinement. The document is intended to support the Model Licensing Act draft, and both are intended to provide strong basis upon which to develop behavior analysis as a viable profession and scientific discipline. Going forward, it is anticipated that substantial efforts in this arena will continue.
The Board also has made progress in several other proposals that were forwarded last year from the Accreditation Board. First, National Accreditation will be pursued by a separate task force under Dr. Libby Street. Additional meetings were held in Phoenix to develop goals and strategies for next year. Second, accreditation for undergraduate programs will be pursued; while candidates to lead this activity have been identified, none have accepted to date.
Accreditation Board
The Accreditation Board, Chaired by John Borrero (University of the Pacific), was also very active in 2008-2009. Dr. Borrero will be stepping down and Dr. Pat Ghezzi will be taking over the Accreditation Board. We thank Dr. Borrero for a fine job on this vital effort and look forward to its continuing under Dr. Ghezzi.
Student Subcommittees
Student subcommittee continues to focus on the top priorities of updating the Syllabi Bank and the Graduate Training Directory.Student subcommittee members Fawna Stockwell, Ann Sturtz, Kerin Weingarten, and Erika Wilhelm will reform the student efforts for 2010. Two sets of requests for updated syllabi have already been sent out. The ABA Student Member Retention, Employment Placement, and Internship Site Identification and the Student Vita/START projects remain as secondary goals.
Suggested Student Subcommittee Goals for 2009-2010:
Continue syllabi collection efforts. As the graduate training directory (GTD) is updated, recruitment efforts should pursue recruitment from all universities and faculty listed in the GTD. Also, a category should be added to reflect syllabi submitted from distance learning programs.
Track and increase number of student vita in ABAI’s Job Placement Services. Previously, a mass email was sent to all student members, which was followed by an increase in student postings. For 2009-2010, a goal will be to replicate this intervention, first by initiating a monthly count of student postings, and second by issuing another email appeal.
Update Graduate Training Directory (Graduate Training Directory Subcommittee). A goal is to have the GTD sub-committee of the Education Board prompt programs to update their profiles on the GTD with an annual deadline of October 1, so that prospective students can be informed about graduate programs before application deadlines in December and January. Once work on the priority goals is well underway, we will resume sending questionnaires to student members of ABA as well as professors asking about their experiences with the GTD and their recommendations for improvement. We will identify graduate programs that are eligible for the GTD and recruit them to participate.