Jobs for Board Certified Behavior Analysts
Work With Atlantic Academy and Our BCBAs, Ed Techs, Special Ed Teachers
My life changed driving home on a dark Maine highway several years ago.
I saw my students once a week and although there was some improvement, the word was that they weren’t getting the intervention support they needed.
So much time in the car didn’t leave any time to discuss student cases with other BCBA colleagues, or critical stakeholders. There was little time to develop thoughtful interventions, or to keep up with new developments in the behavioral sciences.
Using my drive time to plan intervention strategies with my clients was frustrating. I wasn’t frustrated with the job, I was frustrated with the way I had to spend my time. And how much time was being wasted.
I realized proper time allocation is the ultimate key to success for working in special ed.
Time for planning, on-going training and support for all staff, specialists and educators is essential for success in special education and behavior treatment programs. There it is.
I wanted to work in a school where these elements were in play, I wanted to work on a team, to have that support, to be in a place that changes lives. I knew there had to be a better way and out of that came Atlantic Academy.
Atlantic Academy is designed to be the school and environment envisioned that night, a school where trained behavioral and education specialists create a culture fostering both student and staff development and care.
Atlantic Academy is a working example showing how our use of time leads to a staff culture prepared to succeed with even the most challenging students.
As executive director, my job is to make sure our staff has the tools, resources, time and training necessary to do the hard work of teaching kids critical skills necessary for their success.
Atlantic Academy rests on the idea that students will do their best, and learn best, when teachers, staff, and behavior analysts have time and tools to plan great lessons and interventions that build towards goals— especially with emotion-regulation skills.
I’m still talking about time here because time’s so limited and so important. In the special ed world, time means caseloads. Caseloads tend to determine how much time we have with any particular student.
Positive changes to student behavior feel impossible when caseloads are overwhelming. We are skilled, motivated and well trained, but we aren’t magicians.
According to Maine state law, special education teachers can have up to 35 students on their caseloads. Hogue, Lindsey & Taylor, Shanon. (2020). A Review of Special Education Caseload Policies State by State: What Impact Do They Have?. 1-11.
As a board certified behavior analyst, my average caseload during my public school consultation years was 25. Many of you reading this have caseloads over 20 and know what I’m talking about.
At Atlantic Academy, we carefully arrange caseloads so that for every five students, the special education teacher and the behavior analyst have an assistant.
Planning time is also key because planning is where the quality instruction starts.
Many public school teachers only have 30 minutes dedicated to planning. Thirty minutes to plan for multiple special ed students is not enough.
We’re not only teachers and intervention developers, we’re also curriculum developers. Specialized lessons for each student take time to develop.
Thirty minutes is actually shocking when you stop to think about it (and maybe a little insulting?).
The American Federation of Teachers published a survey of over thirty thousand teachers about things that stress them out the most. 58 percent claimed lack of planning time as the biggest issue.
We know this from our own experience, we see it in published research. It’s a no-brainer at this point, so we build planning time into our schedules.
Our program at Atlantic Academy blocks out two hours a day for lesson and intervention planning, staff development and case management.
That’s the right amount of time for us and it works. Our lesson planning is superb. Superb doesn’t happen in 30 minutes, especially not if you’re driving around in your car to manage caseloads far from home.
Planning is the lever that allows us to use our experience to move student interactions from simply care-taking to life-changing.
We achieve our goal of teaching students how to be successful socially, emotionally and behaviorally by bringing in and keeping dedicated, caring and effective staff, special education teachers, and board certified behavior analysts.
If you connect to the type of staff culture we have at Atlantic Academy, we want you to connect with us.
If you’re a trained professional, or simply a college graduate inspired to work in special ed click HERE to see the professional opportunities we have available.