Frequency Of Certification Research Articles

Trends in foreign practice of certifying heads of educational organizations

The article presents the review of international practices of school leaders’ evaluation. In the international context the factors that characterize the system of school leader’s certification are examined consistently. Among them are the frequency of certification; authorities conducting and supervising the certification; procedure and criteria for the evaluation of school leaders; and consequence of the results of the certification of school leaders and their career opportunities. The article reviews these factors with examples of foreign practice. The most valuable findings are foreign trends in the development of national assessment systems for school leaders, including: evaluation of performance of school heads as part of the performance of the school; the effectiveness of annual evaluation procedures recognized by many experts; balancing the certification function between the reporting function and the support and development function. The focus is placed on increasing career opportunities for principals to benefit from their accumulated experience and professional competencies. The importance of analyzing successful practices for the Russian school leader’s certification system is emphasized.

Dynamic Certification and Reputation for Quality

We study firm's incentives to build and maintain reputation for quality, when quality is persistent and can be certified at a cost. We characterize all reputation-dependent MPEs. They vary in frequency of certification and payoffs. Low payoffs arise in equilibria because of over-certification traps. We contrast the MPEs with the highest payoff equilibria. Industry certification standards can help firms coordinate on such good equilibria. The optimal equilibria allow firms to maintain high quality forever, once it is reached for the first time. They are either lenient or harsh, endowing firms with multiple or one chance to improve and certify quality. (JEL D21, D43, D83, L13, L15)

Youth Concussion Laws across the Nation: Implications for the Traveling Team Physician.

There are an estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million sports and recreation-related concussions annually in the United States, with an average annual increase in incidence of 15.5% from 1998 to 2007. From 2009 to 2014, all 50 states enacted youth concussion legislation. This study clarifies core elements common to state concussion legislation and State Interscholastic Athletic Association (SIAA) implementation. A concussion literature, legislative, and SIAA concussion bylaw review was performed for all 50 U.S. states. Mandated concussion education varies in the frequency of certification and method of education. Student athletes and their parents/guardians in a majority of states are required to sign annual educational information sheets. Forty-nine states specifically mandate removal from play. Return-to-play protocols vary with regard to the timeline, content, and health care professional that can provide written clearance. In conclusion, it is important for sports medicine clinicians to stay abreast of current and revised concussion legislation in the jurisdictions in which they provide care.

Partial nephrectomy online: a preliminary evaluation of the quality of health information on the Internet

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Patients are highly likely to access the Internet for health information, and studies have reported that inaccurate or low-quality information may alter patients' expectations and negatively impact informed decision-making. In a unique collaboration with the Health On the Internet (HON) Foundation, we evaluated the top 20 search results for the urology search term 'partial nephrectomy,' and identified the highest and lowest scoring criteria to increase awareness of areas of concern and improvement. To further evaluate the quality of information available on the Internet with regard to the management of localized renal cancer, we evaluated websites providing information on 'partial nephrectomy' in conjunction with the Health On the Internet (HON) Foundation. Many patients now utilize the Internet as a resource to provide further information on disease, treatments and outcomes, and health information on the Internet is largely unregulated. Inaccurate information may contribute to unrealistic expectations and dissatisfied patients. A google.com search identified the top 30 websites for the search term 'partial nephrectomy'. The HON Foundation evaluated each website according to the eight principles for Health on the Internet code of conduct (HONcode) certification and reported the overall frequency of certification, as well as individual website compliance with each of the principles. Overall, seven (23.3%) of 30 websites met the requirements of HONcode certification and an additional two (6.7%) websites were under review to maintain their certification based on updating their resources. The remaining 21 (70%) websites did not meet the standards for certification. The lowest performing criteria included proper citation of medical information and a clear distinction of advertising from editorial content. The low rate of HONcode compliance for these websites illustrates the poor quality of information that patients may encounter when researching options for nephron-sparing surgery, which may have a significant impact on patient decision-making and treatment choices. Physicians should be aware of the quality of Internet resources and how to best use these tools to help guide patients to websites with valid information.