The mission of Temple's Applied Behavior Analysis program is to enable its students to work proficiently with the coherent system of concepts and principles of behavior analysis, preparing them for professional careers in a variety of environments.  The core principles and techniques of ABA are broadly applicable; hence, the interdisciplinary character of this program.  Demand for individuals with applied behavior-analytic competencies is intense and growing, especially in social service agencies and educational institutions that serve individuals with autism or with developmental disabilities and functional deficits resulting from head injury.  The program also provides competencies for diverse types of work, such as devising arrangements for more effective instruction and classroom management, teaching strategies for effective behavior management in home settings, and designing and improving performance, productivity, and safety in organizations. The program is anchored upon fundamentals of the behavior analytic approach.  These include direct and continuous measures of behavior both before and during interventions and graphical representation of outcomes, especially as applied to within-subject research designs.  Complementing these is an emphasis upon the logic and style of scientific prose and upon principles of ethical practice.

A long-standing mission of Temple University has been to serve the needs of the community that surrounds it.  Congruent with this, a hallmark of applied behavior analysis is the development of data-based interventions that deal effectively with problems of social concern.  As a result of the individual efforts of the faculty identified with this program, this university has come to be viewed as a center of excellence in behavior-analytic work.  An example of this is the founding of the Philadelphia Metropolian (formerly Delaware Valley) Association for Behavior Analysis, which meets multiple times per year on the Temple campus.