Commonwealth
of Virginia
Department
of Education
P.
O. Box 2120
Richmond,
Virginia 23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 216
|
TO: |
Division Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Educational
Interpreter Qualifications and Training Opportunities |
Educational interpreters play a valuable role in the
education of children with deafness and hearing impairment. These children depend on the interpreter for
their mastery of the material and their ability to communicate with teachers
and peers. The Regulations Governing Special Education Programs for Children
with Disabilities in Virginia include qualification requirements for
personnel providing interpreting services in Virginia public schools (see
Attachment A). The requirements apply
to all personnel who interpret, regardless of their job title. Attachment B
provides further information about interpreters.
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) offers
funds to create professional development opportunities to enable persons who
provide interpreting services to receive the training and mentoring to achieve
the necessary skills to meet the qualification requirements. These funds are dispersed to school
divisions on a regional basis. A grant
coordinator in each region works with each interpreter to develop an
interpreter training plan and ensures that training is aligned with the
plan. Attachment D provides a list of
the regional grant coordinators who may be contacted regarding training
opportunities.
As a condition of participating in the grant, each
division/state-operated program human resource director must certify that all
interpreters who do not meet the qualification standards will participate in
grant funded activities (assessment, training, or mentoring) as a condition of
employment (Attachment E). This certification should be submitted to the
Department of Education by January 15, 2004.
For further information about interpreter
qualification requirements or to submit a waiver of the qualification
requirements brochure, contact Lissa Power-deFur, director of student services
at (804) 225-2818 or lpower-d@mail.vak12ed.edu. For information on the field of interpreting
and interpreter
training, contact Debbie Pfeiffer at the Virginia
Commonwealth University Partnership for People with Disabilities at (804)
828-1342 or dlpfeiffer@vcu.edu.
JLDM/lpdf/shs
Attachments
/administrators/superintendents_memos/2003/inf216a.pdf
/administrators/superintendents_memos/2003/inf216b.pdf
/administrators/superintendents_memos/2003/inf216c.pdf
/administrators/superintendents_memos/2003/inf216d.pdf
/administrators/superintendents_memos/2003/inf216e.pdf