Requirements
To maintain accreditation, all accredited racing officials, stewards and judges, must attend a continuing education session approved by the Racing Officials Accreditation Program totaling at least 16 credit hours every two years. This can be accomplished by attending one 16 hour session or two 8 hour sessions, as long as 16 credit hours are achieved every two years. The CE year ends on December 31st of a given year.
Please note rolling over excess hours is not permitted.
The CE expiration can only extend to the maximum of 2 years past the current year. For Example: If you attend a CE any time during 2010, your CE expiration can only extend to December 31, 2012.
As of January 1, 2008: In order to maintain accreditation, at least 16 hours of CE must be completed every two years beginning January 1st of the year after the official accreditation date. (Until December 31, 2007, the following timing rule applies: The two-year block of time for the CE requirements starts January 1st after the official accreditation date.)
Types of Continuing Education
As of January 1, 2020: Continuing Education ("CE") programs may be sponsored by either the University of Louisville Equine Industry Program ("UL") or University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program ("UA"), or by another group such as a racing commission. Industry conferences for which the content has been pre-approved may also be used to earn CE credit.
The program must be open to all accredited racing officials, stewards, and judges. Any events restricted in attendance to participants from a specific track(s) or jurisdiction(s) are not eligible for regular credits. See restricted course credits below
All tentative and approved CE programs must be posted on the ROAP website.
A tentative CE schedule will be posted at least one year in advance of any prospective CE.
In order to fulfill the CE requirement, the organizer must submit a date, time, location, and tentative agenda at least 90 days prior to the proposed CE for approval by the ROAP Education Committee and shall submit a final agenda within 45 days of the proposed CE for final approval by the ROAP Education Committee. Unforeseen circumstances may be taken into account of late submissions and require special petition from the host.
It is the responsibility of the organizer to provide a certificate of attendance form to all CE attendees, it is the attendees’ responsibility to fill it out and return to the organizer so the records will accurately reflect the attendance at the CE. Undocumented attendance will not count toward fulfillment of the CE requirement.
To be approved for ROAP continuing education, the content of the program must:
-Be designed for either 8 or 16 hours of credit.
-Dedicate no fewer than three hours to the current Points of Emphasis. The delivery method of the POEs is at the discretion of the organizer with the goal of having the content presentation be meaningful and interesting to participants.
-Include a race film analysis/review session as well as an open session, generally referred to as a “roundtable discussion” during which the participants may discuss issues of importance to them.
-Utilize the appropriate number of presenters, given the topics on the agenda, to provide the participants with a broad range of expertise.
Selection of content, beyond what is required, is determined by the organizing party. The content should be timely and of benefit to the participants. Presenting varying perspectives surrounding current issues is always encouraged in an academic (or educational) setting.
Restricted Course Credits: Events with restricted/closed attendance may be eligible for ROAP CE with the stipulation that once the restricted course is taken, the next CE attended must be an open qualifying program. Failure to complete a subsequent open course would revote previously received CE credits. Restricted Course events must still adhere to all other CE host policies as outlined above.
All approved CE's will then be posted on the ROAP homepage. It is the responsibility of all CE attendees to fill out and return a ROAP Certificate of Attendance to the CE organizer so their records will accurately reflect attendance at the CE. A ROAP Certificate of Attendance so their records will accurately reflect attendance at the CE. Undocumented attendance may not be counted toward fulfillment of the CE requirement.
Online CE: ROAP will conduct at least one sixteen (16) hour online CE per year.
To Re-establish Good Standing
An accredited person who has not attended a CE program in more than two years must: complete the requisite number of 16-hour CE sessions, based on the number of years that have elapsed since the person last attended a CE session OR attend a 60-hour accreditation school.
An accredited person who has not attended a CE session in 10 or more years must: attend a 60-hour accreditation school AND pass all examinations.
Those officials classified as ‘retired’ are still required to make up the requisite CE hours to remaining in good standing.
*Policy updated December 2017 - retired officials re-establishing standing