It All Links Back to CLEAR

It makes sense that regulatory and state agencies and organizations would link from their websites to CLEAR’s, but what about computer-assisted journalism classes at the University of Maryland or the Carl-Schurz-Haus Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut in Germany?  CLEAR’s presence on the world wide web is definitely more widespread than just www.clearhq.org.  An internet search for “Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation” yields about 500 results.  A majority of these sites that reference CLEAR are state and provincial regulatory agencies and boards.  However, the list does expand to some places where you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find CLEAR.

One often-referenced web resource is CLEAR’s publications.  Several of the search results included those of constituents linking back to publications they have authored or presentations they have made for CLEAR.  There are many sites that refer to the definitions of “registration,” “certification,” and “licensure” as proposed in CLEAR publications.  The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) lists these definitions in one of their journal articles entitled “Taking the confusion out of the regulation of health care professions.”  They also list CLEAR’s Questions a Legislator Should Ask by Benjamin Schimberg and Doug Roederer as a suggestion for further reading.  The American Association of Respiratory Care used the definitions in a Model Practice Act they presented as a guide for lawmakers developing laws regulating the practice of respiratory therapy.

The Mississippi Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure (PEER) cites another CLEAR publication, Development, Administration, Scoring and Reporting of Credentialing Examinations, in two of their cases.  PEER reviews state government agencies for effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability and makes recommendations to the Legislature.  In the reviews of the Agricultural Aviation Board and the Landscape Gardener Licensure Examination Processes, PEER used the testing standards presented by CLEAR as a gauge for reviewing the agencies’ testing procedures and made the recommendation that the agencies should comply with the testing standards advocated by CLEAR.

CLEAR’s directory of professional and occupational licensing boards is another resource referenced by a variety of websites.  America’s Career InfoNet, offering extensive career resource information, lists CLEAR as “an excellent resource for those wishing to know more about occupational licensing in the United States and Canada.”  Credentialing Opportunities OnLine (COOL), a career site for Army soldiers, links to CLEAR as a source of information for soldiers wishing to learn about civilian certification and licensure requirements.  Entrepreneur magazine, a resource for small businesses, refers to CLEAR’s directory of licensing agencies when answering a reader question about licensure requirements for a home-based computer repair business.

Various sites list CLEAR’s directory of licensing agencies as a resource for investigation of licensees.  Glen Pritchard, attorney and internet legal research instructor, places CLEAR in his list of best websites for lawyers as a resource for investigating professional licensees.  The National Association of Investigative Specialists references CLEAR’s index of licensing agencies in an article, “Pulling Hidden Info from the Net.” 

It may be for a different goal than that of investigators, but journalists also find CLEAR’s directory to be a useful tool for pulling information from the internet.  The University of Maryland College of Journalism course, “Computer-Assisted Reporting”; USC Annenberg School for Communication Online Journalism Review; and UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism all list CLEAR as a resource for journalists and reporters to research licensed professionals and public records databases on the internet. 

Several international websites link back to CLEAR as a source of educational information about the US.  The Carl-Schurz-Haus Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, a US information agency for students in Germany, links to CLEAR’s index of state boards in the accreditation section of their Educational Advising Links.  The US Embassy: Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago lists CLEAR’s links to testing and certification organizations as information on higher education in the US.  Fachhochschule Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts lists CLEAR as a resource on regulatory information “von Architecture bis Veterinary Medicine.”  Some internet search engines in Germany and the Netherlands link directly to CLEAR from their Society> Government> Government-Related Organizations category.

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