Action Behavior Centers Says It Has Turned More Than 1,000 Employees Into BCBAs

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Action Behavior Centers (ABC) said Oct. 28 that more than 1,000 of its employees have become BCBAs through Everest, a paid fellowship it launched in January 2024 to support registered behavior technicians (RBTs), the paraprofessionals who help deliver therapy under supervision, through graduate school and into BCBA jobs.

The announcement also lists first-time BCBA exam pass rates at 8 partner universities and says they reflect “each school’s most recent first-time BCBA exam pass rate among ABC teammates.” For 7 of the 8 schools, the figures match rates the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) published Oct. 8 for entire programs, which cover each program’s first-time test-takers as a group, with no breakdown by employer. Ball State University’s 50%, for example, covers 1,026 first-time test-takers from its online program in 2025.

ABC’s announcement comes as new BCBA certifications have stalled. The BACB certified 8,021 BCBAs in 2025, slightly fewer than the 8,164 it certified in 2024, according to the board’s annual data. New RBT certifications rose 23% over the same period, to more than 101,000.

ABC is not the only employer helping staff through graduate school. On Oct. 6, the New England Center for Children (NECC), a nonprofit in Southborough, Massachusetts, said Northeastern University faculty will teach graduate ABA courses on its campus so full-time employees can earn a Northeastern master’s degree while they work. NECC says it will provide “significant tuition reimbursement,” and it expects the first class to start in fall 2027.

What Everest Offers Trainees

ABC, which is based in Austin and backed since 2022 by private-equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners, says it runs more than 450 centers in 9 states. Everest provides paid RBT training and certification, free supervision of the fieldwork hours trainees log before the exam, and paid study time away from their regular schedules. ABC limits each supervisor to two trainees.

Trainees who pass the BCBA exam on the first attempt get a $5,000 bonus, and ABC covers the cost of up to two attempts for eligible trainees. A new step called Nova gives qualifying trainees a raise and 5 more paid fieldwork hours a week if they are on track to finish a master’s degree and sit for the exam within 18 months. The release gives no figure for the raise and does not say whether trainees must stay with ABC after they certify.

“ABC has always prioritized responsible, high-quality fieldwork experiences,” Samantha Salinas, ABC’s vice president of clinical services, said in the announcement.

7 Rates Match Whole-Program Figures

Most of the matches come from big programs. Arizona State University’s 44% covers 1,197 first-time test-takers, Capella University’s 41% covers 928, and National University’s 35% covers 424. The Florida Institute of Technology’s 69% covers 807 in its online certificate program, and Purdue University Global’s 46% covers 285 in its online master’s program.

ABC lists a 60% pass rate for its employees who attended The Chicago School. That percentage matches the BACB’s published result for one of the school’s online master’s programs, which had 43 first-time exam candidates in 2025. The BACB report does not identify how many of those candidates worked for ABC.

The eighth figure, Northeastern University’s 66%, matches no rate the BACB has published for the school in its 2023, 2024, or 2025 reports; Northeastern’s master’s program passed 68% of first-time test-takers in 2025. The release does not say how many ABC employees from each school took the exam or which year each rate covers.

AT A GLANCE

SOURCES & REFERENCES