That first step's a doozie...

As an interpreting student graduating from my training program, I felt like I had just enough knowledge to be dangerous. I had studied for several years, and taken several assessments of my book smarts and my hands-up skills, and scored well enough to be acceptable to work in an educational setting but not high enough that I felt comfortable working out in the community with adults.

Wait, what? You mean the standards are different? Yes, they are. Paradoxically, many states don't have firm and stringent standards of aptitude for interpreters working in the public schools. Wouldn't you think that the standards would be higher for interpreters who are working with children and young adults during the time of their lives when they are acquiring language (both sign and English) while they are simultaneously expected to learn all of the information they will need to pass their SAT's? Not so. Many first-year, inexperienced interpreters start out their careers in the public schools. In my case, thankfully I had a background in childcare, elementary education, and understood the gravity of my assignment, so even though I was (and am still) new, I felt that I could provide competent service to my pint-sized clients. But many interpreters cut their teeth in the school systems and then move on to community work once they become comfortable with the job of interpreting. This phenomenon causes problems, two of which are the fact that educational interpreting is looked down upon by some inside the industry because of the lack of consistent qualification requirements, and the fact that often the most experienced interpreters don't work in the schools because they have moved on to other settings.

The educational interpreting setting was examined by Elizabeth Winston in her book Educational Interpreting: How it Can Succeed, in which she compiled research into the field. As part of my degree work, I conducted a small scale, cursory survey in an attempt to determine if conditions and attitudes inside the industry had changed over the decade that has passed since Prof. Winston published her book.
Here is a copy of my (informal) research findings.

What I've said here should in no way imply that educational interpreters are not skilled, or that they are less qualified than community interpreters. I have seen quite the opposite. The interpreters that I've observed and worked with are dedicated professionals who strive every day to provide access to education for all their clients. But like their educational counterparts, public school teachers, they are mostly undervalued and underpaid. I would love to see that change, for both teachers and interpreters, because in the end it will be the students who benefit.