ABA Program Rankings by Special Learning
ABA Program Rankings 2026: BCBA programs by first-time pass rate
129 US BCBA programs, ranked by how often their candidates passed the BCBA exam on the first try in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Small programs are adjusted so a few test takers can't push them to either end of the list, every rate shows how certain it is, and the whole method is on this page.
First edition, November 2026. Data: BACB university pass-rate reports 2023-2025.
Graduate programs are the pipeline of new behavior analysts. First-time pass rates are one clear, public measure of how well a program prepares its candidates for the exam. Students deserve to see them side by side; programs deserve a fair measure they can improve against.
The results
First quartile 66.8% to 83.7% (32 programs)
Second quartile 57.5% to 66.5% (32)
Third quartile 48.7% to 56.8% (32)
Fourth quartile 26.8% to 48.5% (33)
What the rankings show
- A few large programs train most candidates, and most of them sit in the lower quartiles. The ten largest programs (ten programs at nine schools) had 13,997 of the 22,397 first-time candidates in 2023-2025 (62.5%), and 50.9% of their candidates passed the first time. Eight of the ten are online and none is ABAI-accredited; six of them are in the fourth quartile and one in the first. In 2025 alone, the BACB reports that its ten largest programs had 5,446 of 9,955 first-time candidates (54.7%), with an unweighted mean program pass rate of 42.9% (BACB 2025 report).
- ABAI-accredited programs cluster at the top. 15 ranked programs are ABAI-accredited as of November 2026. 76.4% of their 643 first-time candidates passed, against 52.9% of the 20,397 candidates at the other ranked programs. 11 of the 15 are in the first quartile and none in the fourth. For 2025, the BACB reports mean program pass rates across the 2025 report's 204 programs of 79.3% for the 25 accredited programs and 53.2% for the other 179 (BACB 2025 report). This describes candidates, not what causes the gap.
- Candidates from on-campus programs passed more often than candidates from online ones. 74.0% of the 1,109 first-time candidates at the 26 ranked on-campus programs passed, against 52.2% of the 16,304 at the 63 online programs. 16 on-campus programs are in the first quartile and none in the fourth; 26 online programs are in the fourth quartile. Formats are as the schools list them today. This describes candidates, not cause.
- Many programs can't yet be told apart. With three years of results, 40 programs are clearly above the 54.1% rate for all candidates in these programs (their whole 90% range sits above it), 31 are clearly below, and 58 can't be separated from it. That's why each adjusted rate comes with a range, and why each program shows, beside its quartile, whether it is above, below or can't be told apart from 54.1%.
For context: in 2015, 65% of 3,323 first-time candidates passed (BACB 2015-2019 report); in 2025, 51% of 9,955 passed (BACB 2025 report). The number of first-time candidates nearly tripled while the pass rate fell. Beginning January 1, 2032, BCBA applicants must have a master's degree or higher from an ABAI- or APBA-accredited program (BACB 2025 report).
The rankings
| Rank | Program | First-time candidates | Passed (raw) | Adjusted rate and 90% range | By year |
|---|
Reading a row. Adjusted rate is the program's pass rate after small programs are pulled toward the 54.1% rate for all candidates in these programs. The bar shows its 90% range: the band where the program's true rate most likely sits; the thin line marks 54.1%. Beside the quartile, Above 54.1% or Below 54.1% means the whole range sits above or below that rate; Can't be told apart from 54.1% means the range overlaps it. ≈ marks a year the BACB listed under an older school or program name. Pooled years are combined by the BACB for small programs.
Not ranked yet: fewer than 20 candidates in 2023-2025
These 94 programs are in the BACB's 2024 or 2025 reports but had fewer than 20 first-time candidates across 2023-2025, too few to rank fairly. Their numbers are here too; read them with their size in mind.
Closed, by the school's own word
These 11 programs are in the BACB's reports, but the school itself says the program is closed or paused, so they aren't ranked.
How we ranked the programs
- One outcome, three years. This edition uses one outcome: the share of a program's candidates who passed the BCBA exam on their first try, as the BACB prints it in its university pass-rate reports for 2023, 2024 and 2025. For each program we add up its first-time candidates across the three reports, and its passes (candidates times the printed pass rate). The BACB prints rounded rates, so passes are estimates (about 12,108). Each candidate counts once: when the BACB printed two rows for one program in one year, we count the larger row; when it pooled two years for a small program and two pooled rows share a year, we count the later row only. A few 2023 rows pool 2022 and 2023, as the BACB printed them (8 ranked programs). Programs the BACB renamed, or listed under a former school name, are counted as one program.
- Who is ranked. A program is ranked when it had at least 20 first-time candidates across 2023-2025 and the school hasn't said it is closed or paused. A program whose current page we couldn't find is still ranked, with a note on its row. Programs with fewer candidates are listed under Not ranked yet, and programs the school says are closed under Closed, by the school's own word.
- Adjusting for size. A program with 8 candidates can pass 40% one year and 90% the next by chance alone, so we don't rank on the raw rate. We pull each program's rate toward the rate for all candidates in these programs, 54.1% (about 12,108 estimated passes among 22,397 candidates), as if each program had 20 extra candidates who passed at that rate: adjusted rate = (passes + 20 × 54.1%) ÷ (candidates + 20). A program with 30 candidates moves a lot; one with 1,000 barely moves. Statisticians call this empirical Bayes shrinkage with a beta-binomial model.
- How certain each rate is. The 90% range comes from the same model, a beta distribution with (passes + 20 × 54.1%) and (candidates − passes + 20 × (1 − 54.1%)) as its two parameters.
- Rank and quartile. Programs are ranked by adjusted rate, highest first; a tie goes to the program with more candidates. The ranked list is split into four equal quartiles by rank: first, second, third and fourth.
- What else is on each row. State, format, degree or certificate, and ABAI status (as of November 2026) come from our BCBA Program Finder, which checks each school's own pages and ABAI's lists. Every yearly rate links to the BACB report it came from.
Every rule and number is on this page, and the ranked table downloads as a CSV. If a number here differs from the BACB report, the report is right and we'll fix ours.
What this ranking can't tell you
- Pass rates are one outcome. In the BACB's own words: "Pass rates are historical outcomes; they are not rankings, endorsements, or guarantees of future or individual performance." The same page goes on: "Use pass rates together with core program features and outcomes, the number of graduates, prior-year results, current accreditation/recognition status, program cost and format, faculty and student supports, fieldwork opportunities, and other outcomes that matter to you." (BACB 2025 report, page 1) This ranking is Special Learning's reading of the BACB's published numbers; the BACB didn't make or review it.
- Small programs vary from year to year. That's why we adjust for size and show a range. Two programs a few ranks apart usually can't be told apart; compare ranges, not single rank numbers.
- The overall rate is driven by a few large programs. The BACB notes that its largest programs have "a considerable influence on the overall first-time pass rate" (BACB 2025 report), so take care comparing any one program with it.
- Programs differ in who enrolls, and a pass rate doesn't say who became a skilled behavior analyst. It doesn't show what causes a difference between programs.
- What comes next. The second edition will add value (pass rate against tuition), supervised fieldwork support and accreditation. The third will add a survey of clinical directors and ABA organization owners on how well prepared the people they hire from each program are.
Is your program's information wrong? Tell us
If a number, a name, a format or a status is wrong, email contact@special-learning.com or use the correction link on the program's row, and we'll check it against the BACB report and the school's own pages and fix it.
Sources
Pass rates: BACB, BCBA Examination Pass Rates for University Training Programs, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Programs, formats, degree or certificate, ABAI status and closures: our BCBA Program Finder, read from each school's pages and ABAI's lists in November 2026. Context figures: BACB, BCBA Examination Pass Rates for Verified Course Sequences, 2015-2019, and the 2025 report.
ABA Program Rankings by Special Learning. First edition, November 2026. Data: BACB university pass-rate reports 2023-2025.