New rules designed to prevent unqualified people from serving as interpreters for the deaf won’t apply to interpreters working in the state’s classrooms, Arkansas Department of Health officials say.
Act 1314 of 2013 requires interpreters to satisfy specific certification standards to obtain a license. But Health Department officials were notified last month that federal law gives the state’s educational authority - the school board or department of education - the right to determine standards and qualifications for interpreters in classroom settings.
The updated rules will go before the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Rules and Regulations Subcommittee on Wednesday.
“We’re going to have to look at trying to address the issues with the schools. For my part, I plan on having more conversations with the Department [of Education] and the Board [of Education],” said Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, who sponsored the Act. “One of my main concerns with this Act was to address the need to have certified and qualified interpreters, especially for kids, to make sure they have progress and opportunities. But the bill wasn’t only to address schools. It also looked at other serious situations where we need to ensure that interpreters are qualified, whether that’s court or doctors visits or public meetings.”
The Act was passed shortly after a 2012 dispute over interpreter standards at the Department of Career Education.
In 2012, Department of Career Education Director Bill Walker hired an interpreter, Clara Taylor, for a position with Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, despite Taylor not having certification from a national interpreting organization. Taylor also had not taken an exam through the Quality Assurance Screening Test - the standard for educational interpreters - at the time she was hired.
Walker was strongly criticized for the hire, which spawned several legislative hearings, partly because Taylor was a subcontractor for Walker’s funeral home for three to four years before being hired by the department.
Walker defended his hire, noting that the job listing didn’t require applicants to be certified, although those with certification were “preferred.”
An outcry ensued from advocates for the hearing impaired and deaf. Act 1314 was proposed and passed to ensure all interpreters hired by the state for educational and other purposes have proper certification.
Because of the federal law governing classroom interpreters, the classroom licensing certification portion of the new rules was recently removed.
Under the Arkansas rules, any interpreter who interprets in exchange for money must have a license in Arkansas. If an interpreter wishes to practices in a nonclassroom setting, they must achieve a certain score on one of several standardized tests in order to be certified to interpret for different situations. For example, interpreting in a mental-health setting requires a higher score than interpreting for a job interview.
The attorneys for the Department of Health struck all language related to educational interpreting requirements and referred applicants seeking to interpret in a classroom to the Arkansas Department of Education for a list of qualifications.
Those applicants will be granted a license if they present proof they took a certification exam and have met the other requirements set out by the rules, said Elizabeth Pitman, an attorney for the Department of Health.
“If someone applies for a license and has achieved a certain level on those certification exams, their license will denote what level they achieved,” she said. “They can then take that license to the school district, which would have to consult the department’s guidelines and whether that license met those qualifications.”
In most educational situations, individual school districts hire interpreters much as they hire teachers. It would be up to the school districts to make sure the interpreters had a proper license and were qualified under state standards.
However, the law does not outline who is responsible for policing the districts or making sure the agencies or interpreters they hire are qualified or licensed.
In the past 11 days, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette made several requests for a copy of the Arkansas Department of Education’s interpreter qualification guidelines. Several messages left with attorneys at the department were not returned, and the department’s spokesman referred questions to the Department of Health.
In an email, spokesman Kim Friedman said, “The ADE does not license interpreters. Interpreters usually have proficiency scores on the QAST [Quality Assurance Screening Test] or EIPA [Education Interpreter Performance Assessment] that indicate a level that corresponds with the situations for which they can interpret. The standard score for interpreting in educational settings is 3 or greater on either test.”
It’s unclear whether the minimum scores are required or are “preferred,” as Walker said.
Pitman said the rules designed a “complaint driven” system for ensuring compliance. Once a complaint is made, the advisory board would investigate the interpreter and determine whether the employer, agency or interpreter had violated the rules.
The rules also set out a penalty ranging from $100 to $500 for individual interpreters or $500 to $1,000 for an interpreting agency if a violation is determined.
Ray James, chairman of the newly created advisory board, said the changes don’t lessen the effect of the new rules. James, who is a certified interpreter and an instructor, worked with the Department of Health on some of the changes.
“To apply for a license, you must hold a credential. That has not changed,” he said. “The Department of Education has a set standard, and the state has not mandated that [the schools] follow it.This licensing requirement will mandate that they follow it.”
Between 200 and 300 deaf and hearing-impaired interpreters currently practice in Arkansas. According to Department of Education statistics, 31 school districts employ individual interpreters for 47 students, but other districts may employ interpreters through contracts with interpreting agencies.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/08/2014