BILL REQ. #:  H-1369.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/13/13.   

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

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that although the professional educator standards board has begun work on standards and assessments for educational interpreters as directed by the 2012 supplemental operating budget, there is a need formally to codify this as an ongoing responsibility. The legislature also intends to specify how the standards and assessments will be used to improve learning opportunities for students who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hearing impaired.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.410 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout 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.
     (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 adopt standards for educational interpreters and 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, defining what constitutes a minimum assessment result.
     (3) By the beginning of the 2016-17 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 2019-20 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.
     (5) The provisions of this section do not apply to educational interpreters employed to interpret a sign system or sign language for which no educational interpreter assessment has been identified by the professional educator standards board.