BILL REQ. #:  H-4010.1 

Read first time 02/02/12.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to qualifications for educational interpreters; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.410 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.410 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) As used in this section:
     (a) "Educational interpreters" means school district employees, whether certificated or classified, providing sign language translation and further explanation of concepts introduced by the teacher for students who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hearing impaired; and
     (b) "Educational interpreter assessment" means an assessment that includes both written assessment and performance assessment that is offered by a national organization of professional sign language interpreters and transliterators, and is designed to assess performance in more than one sign system or sign language.
     (2) The professional educator standards board shall identify and publicize educational interpreter assessments that are available and meet the definition in this section. The board shall establish a performance standard for each educational interpreter assessment for the purposes of this section.
     (3) By the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, educational interpreters who are employed by school districts must have successfully achieved the performance standard established by the professional educator standards board on one of the educational interpreter assessments identified by the board.
     (4) By the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, educational interpreters who are employed by school districts must meet the requirements of subsection (3) of this section, plus achieve national interpreter certification by the national association of the deaf registry of interpreters for the deaf.