Most training pages answer the continuing education question with the word "approved" and leave you to work out approved by whom, for what, and in your state. That is the wrong answer even when it happens to be true, because the rules are different for every credential your crew holds.

Here is the useful version. Two of these need no approval from anyone, anywhere. One is pending and is described as pending.

Professional engineers: no approval required, in any state

Every state in the delivery footprint requires continuing education for professional engineers, and not one of them pre-approves providers. Engineers self-select their coursework and self-report it. There is no application, no provider number, and nothing for a training company to be granted.

That means the only thing standing between a class and a PDH claim is documentation, and documentation is the part that is already handled. Every certificate states exact contact hours: 13.5 across the two-day core, 19 with Day 3, 7.0 for the one-day water and wastewater program. Hours are computed from a timed agenda with breaks and meals excluded.

Requirements run 24 to 30 hours per two-year cycle across the footprint: South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Montana and Wyoming.

Several of those states reserve part of the requirement for particular categories, and this is where technical training earns its place rather than filling a box:

Wisconsin requires at least 13 live or interactive hours. An on-site class is live by definition.
North Dakota requires at least 20 technical hours.
Kansas requires at least 24 hours related to health, safety and welfare.
Ohio reserves 2 hours for ethics, and Illinois reserves 3 core hours. Neither is something a drive class fills, and neither is something a drive class competes with.

Live technical instruction satisfies the technical and health-safety-welfare buckets in every state in the footprint. Those are the categories hardest to fill with a webinar.

CMRP and CMRT: no approval required, nationally

SMRP recertification runs 50 hours over three years and accepts relevant third-party training with no provider approval of any kind. Drive installation, commissioning and fault diagnosis sit under the Equipment Reliability pillar.

Same mechanism as PDH: the certificate and its stated contact hours are the whole apparatus.

Other credentials that accept third-party training

ASQ CRE, ISA CCST and CAP, NICET, SME CMfgT and CMfgE, NATE, STLE, IFPS, and PMI PMP all accept relevant training from any qualified provider, as recertification units or professional development points depending on the body. None of them requires a provider to be pre-approved.

Licensed electricians: the non-code hours are the hard ones

Electrician continuing education is a real program in nine states in the footprint: South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming and Kentucky. Ohio runs one for contractors, and in Kansas it is handled at county level. Indiana, Illinois and Missouri have no state electrician continuing education at all.

In most of those states, roughly half the required hours are reserved for code. The code half is easy to find and the other half is the problem. Every provider in the market runs a code update; far fewer offer non-code technical hours worth a journeyman's afternoon.

That is the gap a drive class fills. Course approval is required in these states and filings are in progress; ask about your state when you book, and the answer will be the current status rather than a maybe.

Water and wastewater operators: filings in progress

All fourteen states in the footprint approve outside training for operator credit, and applications are moving state by state. No approval is claimed here until a specific state has granted one.

Ask about your state when you book. Every attendee receives a certificate stating exact contact hours either way, which is what a self-reporting operator needs and what a board asks for after the fact.

What you actually receive

Credit claims live or die on paperwork, so here is the paperwork.

A Certificate of Completion stating exact contact hours, computed from a timed agenda with breaks and meals excluded. Not "a two-day class," which is not a number a board accepts.
The timed agenda itself, which is the document every state application is built from and the one a board asks for if a submission is questioned.
A scored competency report to the client within five business days, which is separate from credit but is what a manager is asked for when the training budget comes up. How the assessment works.
Rosters retained by Wayward Leaders, because several states require them after the fact and on their own schedule.

Eligibility. Final determination of credit always rests with each board or certifying body. We say eligible because that is exactly what the rules provide, and we hand you the documentation that makes the claim stick.