Source (2025): https://calstatela.curriculog.com/proposal:17221/form

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

1. Students will state the philosophical underpinnings of behavior analysis.

2. Students will identify, define, and provide examples of respondent or Pavlovian conditioning and all the related components (e.g., US, UR, CS, CR)

3. Students will identify, define, and provide examples of operant conditioning and all the related components (e.g., motivating operations, discriminative stimuli, reinforcement)

4. Students will identify, define and provide examples of the verbal operants.

5. Students will identify, define, and provide examples of single subject experimental designs and its related components (e.g., dependent variable).

6. Students will define and decribe behavior change techniques for increasing and decreasing behavior in operant conditioning (e.g., shaping, chaining, behavioral skills training), including assessing treatment integrity.

7. Students will assess (e.g., functionally analyze) and measure behavior in addition to demonstrating various techniques for evaluating the quality of their data (e.g., IOA).

8. Students will identify and apply ethical guidelines to both research and practice for both behavior analysis and psychology (APA).

9. Students will apply principles of behavior analysis to treatment of autistic or individuals with intellectual impairments OR to health-related behaviors and public health.

10. Students will get experience in conducting research in behavior analysis and/or direct experience working with a target population.

Fit with the Institutional Mission or Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILO) 

1. Knowledge: the certificate aligns with this ILO in that it will teach students about the complexities of human behavior and how it is influenced by environment, their learning history, and culture. This certificate in applied behavior analysis will give students a basic understanding of the laws of behavior analysis that govern human behavior and will provide them with the foundation to apply the methods and principles to real world problems.

2. Intellectual Skills: A key component of ABA is the analysis of behavior with respect to its environmental causes, which helps to promote critical thinking skills. Students will learn to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data and be expected to apply and communicate those findings to real world problems.

3. Place and Community: Urban and global mission: The certificate program will teach students both ethics for both clinical practice and research so they can better understand how their behavior impacts other individuals and the field at large. Students will also learn how to select behaviors for change and develop interventions based on the needs of the target population and the community in which they live.

4. Transformation: Integrative learning: The certificate promotes the application of what is learned in the classroom to clinical fieldwork and social issues. Students who opt for either the fieldwork or the research component will be required to report what they have learned either through the development of behavior change programs or research projects.