Optometric continuing education (CE) is the primary method used by state boards to certify continuing competence of licensed optometrists. There is a myriad of formats by which each state board or licensing jurisdiction approves CE courses, disseminates course information, records course attendance, and retrieves practitioner data of course completion. Much of the work done by one state board is duplicated by other state boards, and the same CE courses are approved by many boards every year.
By agreeing to abide by certain basic standards, you can be designated a COPE Qualified Administrator. In addition to reducing the amount of time and effort you spend currently securing individual state board approval for your program(s), this designation will help attract high quality courses to your programs and will enhance its marketing.
The Council on Optometric Practitioner Education® (COPE)®, a national clearinghouse for all CE courses of a state-wide, regional or national scope, was created to remove these duplicative efforts by state boards, instructors, and program administrators. We expect that lectures given at local meetings will continue to be reviewed and approved for CE credit by the state board.
Organizationally, the Council on Optometric Practitioner Education® (COPE)® is a committee of the International Association of Boards of Examiners in Optometry (IAB) which is the association that currently represents 50 US optometry boards, 4 US territories/jurisdictions, and 3 Canadian boards.
COPE’s mission is to:
To create this national clearinghouse, participating state boards have agreed upon: standards for administration of continuing education courses; a standard form for submission for course approval; a standard form for reporting continuing education courses.
Suggestions to: (Ernie Patterson)
Back to the COPE Administrator Information Home Page
Back to the COPE Home Page