Educational interpreters

AN ACT Relating to educational interpreters; and amending RCW 1
28A.410.271. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 28A.410.271 and 2017 c 34 s 1 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this 6
section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.7
(a) "Educational interpreters" means school district employees, 8
whether certificated or classified, providing sign language 9
interpretation, transliteration, or both, and further explanation of 10
concepts introduced by the teacher for students who are deaf, 11
deaf-blind, or hard of hearing. 12
(b) "Educational interpreter assessment" means an assessment that 13
includes both written assessment and performance assessment that is 14
offered by a national organization of professional sign language 15
interpreters and transliterators, and is designed to assess 16
performance in more than one sign system or sign language.17
(c) "Interpretation" means conveying one language in the form of 18
another language. 19
(d) "Transliteration" means conveying one language in a different 20
modality of the same language. 21
S-0184.1
SENATE BILL 5025
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators Lovick, Nobles, Salomon, Trudeau, Valdez, Wellman, and C.
Wilson
Prefiled 12/10/24. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Early Learning & K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 5025
(2) The professional educator standards board shall:1
(a) Adopt standards for educational interpreters ((and identify)) 2
including, as necessary, separate standards for deaf and deaf-blind 3
educational interpreters;4
(b) Identify and publicize educational interpreter assessments 5
that are available and meet the requirements in this section; ((and6
(b))) (c) Establish a full performance standard and a limited 7
performance standard for each educational interpreter assessment for 8
the purposes of this section, defining what constitutes a minimum 9
assessment result((.10
(3)(a))); and11
(d) Establish criteria for educational interpreter certifications 12
based on meeting the standards established under this subsection.13
(3)(a) The professional educator standards board shall grant 14
certificates for deaf and deaf-blind educational interpreters based 15
on criteria established under subsection (2) of this section.16
(b)(i) Each category of certificates granted under (a) of this 17
subsection must be categorized as follows:18
(A) A certificate granted to an individual who has met the 19
limited performance standard but has not met the full performance 20
standard for an educational interpreter assessment under subsection 21
(2)(c) of this section is considered a limited certificate and may 22
only have a period of validity of up to five years from the date of 23
the issuance of the certificate; and24
(B) A certificate granted to an individual who has met the full 25
performance standard for an educational interpreter assessment under 26
subsection (2)(c) of this section is considered a full certificate 27
and has a period of validity as determined by the professional 28
educator standards board.29
(ii) The professional educator standards board may adopt rules 30
that add additional requirements for educational interpreters who 31
have not previously worked in a role as an educational interpreter 32
prior to September 1, 2026.33
(c) By December 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, the 34
professional educator standards board shall make data publicly 35
available relating to educational interpreter certification 36
including, but not limited to, the number of each type of certificate 37
granted, demographic information of certificate recipients, and the 38
geographic distribution of certificate grantees.39
p. 2 SB 5025
(4)(a) Through the end of the 2026-27 school year, educational 1
interpreters who are employed by school districts must have 2
successfully achieved the performance standard established by the 3
professional educator standards board on one of the educational 4
interpreter assessments identified by the board. An educational 5
interpreter who has not successfully achieved such a performance 6
standard may provide or continue providing educational interpreter 7
services to students subject to the requirements of (c) of this 8
subsection.9
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this section, by the 10
beginning of the ((2016-17)) 2027-28 school year, educational 11
interpreters who are employed by school districts must have 12
successfully ((achieved the performance standard )) obtained a 13
certificate established by the professional educator standards board 14
((on one of the educational interpreter assessments identified by the 15
board)) under subsection (3) of this section . Evaluations and 16
assessments for educational interpreters for which the board has not 17
established a performance standard or certificate may be obtained as 18
supplemental demonstrations of professional proficiency but may not 19
be used as evidence of compliance with this subsection (((3)(a))) 20
(4)(b). 21
(((b) An)) (c) Beginning in the 2027-28 school year, an 22
educational interpreter who has not successfully ((achieved the 23
performance standard required by (a) of this subsection )) obtained a 24
limited certificate may provide or continue providing educational 25
interpreter services to students for one calendar year after receipt 26
of his or her most recent educational interpreter assessment results, 27
or ((eighteen)) 18 months after completing his or her most recent 28
educational interpreter assessment, whichever period is longer, if he 29
or she can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the employing school or 30
school district, ongoing efforts to successfully achieve the 31
((required performance standard )) full certificate established under 32
subsection (3) of this section . In making a determination under this 33
subsection (((3)(b))) (4)(c), the employing school or school district 34
may consult with the professional educator standards board. For 35
purposes of this subsection (((3)(b))) (4)(c), "educational 36
interpreter" includes persons employed as educational interpreters 37
before the 2016-17 school year. 38
(((4) By December 31, 2013, the professional educator standards 39
board shall recommend to the education committees of the house of 40
p. 3 SB 5025
representatives and the senate how to appropriately use the national 1
interpreter certification and the educational interpreter performance 2
assessment for educational interpreters in Washington public 3
schools)) (d) The professional educator standards board may adopt 4
rules to limit the number of times an educational interpreter may 5
take an educational interpreter assessment for the purposes of 6
qualifying for a certificate under this section. 7
(5) The provisions of this section do not apply to educational 8
interpreters employed to interpret a sign system or sign language, 9
including nonsigning interpretation such as oral interpreting, 10
computer-assisted real time captioning, and cued speech 11
transliteration, for which an educational interpreter assessment 12
either does not exist or, as determined by the professional educator 13
standards board, is not capable of being evaluated by the board for 14
suitability as a performance standard in Washington.15
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p. 4 SB 5025