Improvement of Educational Interpreting in Utah

The Utah chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (UTRID) would like to call your attention to some concerns shared jointly by Educational Interpreters in Utah and members of the Deaf Community. These issues relate mainly to the current state of Deaf Education in Utah, and its many deficiencies.

There have long been issues of concern within the Educational Interpreter community here in Utah, ranging from the pay scale, the working conditions, certification issues and advanced interpreter training.

Recently, events have come to light that continue to add to the list of struggles faced by K-12 interpreters, again placing them among the lowest paid and hardest working interpreters in any category here in Utah. Salaries have been adjusted in order to discount years of experience an interpreter brings to the job. Interpreters are being told how to avoid repetitive motion injuries in theory, but are not given opportunities to put these preventive techniques to use. UTRID and members of the Deaf community both agree that the conditions in which educational interpreters work are not effective, is detrimental both to the interpreter's health and the deaf child's educational needs, and negatively impacts the whole intent of Deaf education in this state.

Educational Interpreters work in the K-12 setting and are the primary means of conveying information that constitute the bulk of a Deaf child’s education. As the trend in Utah moves away from direct means of instruction and, increasingly, towards placing Deaf and Hard of Hearing children in mainstreamed settings, more attention must be placed on ensuring the effectiveness of interpreting services. Preparation time, team interpreting support, mentoring opportunities and salaries that account for level of certification, education and years of experience needs to be considered and implemented.

Extensive research has been done on Educational Interpreting as a profession and guidelines have been recommended by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID), a professional organization. In their Standard Practices Paper: Interpreting in Educational Settings (K-12), RID stresses the importance of having a certified, highly trained and qualified interpreter to ensure a high quality educational experience for Deaf children. Moreover, in their Standard Practice Paper: Multiple Roles, RID specifically points out that tasks that require interpreters to work “for long periods of time without relief” should not be considered as part of any interpreter’s normal duties. This, unfortunately, is the norm for Educational Interpreters. Research shows that an interpreter’s effectiveness decreases markedly after about 20-30 minutes of work. Without team interpreting support or preparation time, this translates to a potential loss of
50 percent of a Deaf child’s education EVERY day.

Interpreting in educational settings requires a high level of skill in working with two languages (English and American Sign Language), mastery of the interpreting process and a strong working knowledge of
Deaf Culture among other skills. These come only with years of experience in the field. UTRID recognizes that a pay scale that fails to account for this essential facet of any interpreter’s professional development is detrimental to the Deaf student, the interpreters and the schools. Schools will fail to attract skilled interpreters the position requires, and those schools will also fail to retain these interpreters once they attain higher certification. Currently the disturbing trend is that K-12 attracts mainly those interpreters with the least skill and experience due to low pay and difficult working conditions. This occurs in a setting where the greatest impact on any child’s education is made. These new interpreters are also unable to work with and learn from more experienced interpreters because there is no incentive for those potential mentors to remain in the educational interpreting field.

The current working conditions for Educational Interpreters do NOT satisfy the needs of the Deaf children nor the interpreters themselves. UTRID and interpreters in Utah’s educational system request that the following be considered and strategies developed to implement the necessary changes.


**Adopt and put to practice the guidelines set forth by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID)'s Standard practices for Educational Interpreters. See http://rid.org/124.pdf.

**Adopt a pay scale that compensates for an interpreter’s education, certification level and years of experience, at a starting baseline similar to what is found in Higher Education here in Utah.

**Clarify the Roles and Responsibilities of each member of the Educational Team and identify the appropriate Administrator in charge of Interpreting Services in each School District and USDB. Evaluate priorities to ensure the quality of the Deaf Child’s education is being met.

**Meet with stakeholders in the Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. Parents, Students, Deaf Community Representatives, Teachers and Interpreters need to be an active part in the reform of Deaf Education. There is a disconnect between stakeholders and Administration.

The situation surrounding Educational Interpreters and Deaf Education in Utah are in dire straits. Changes are necessary on many levels. The first step will be to meet with UTRID and the Educational Interpreters to find solutions to the outlined issues. This is a serious problem and one that needs to be addressed immediately. We look forward to your response, and to further discussion about this critical issue.