In 1991, Dr. Brenda Schick and Kevin Williams with the Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska developed the EIPA, the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment, a much-needed tool that defines and assesses skills and knowledge needed for interpreting in educational settings. The role of an interpreter interpreting for children in an educational setting is very different from that of an interpreter working with adults. The EIPA provides valuable feedback for educational interpreters to improve their unique skills and knowledge.

The EIPA Diagnostic Center, located at Boys Town, is committed to making a positive difference in the quality of education for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. As well as administering the EIPA and related products, it offers continuing education for interpreters working in K-12 schools. Information about upcoming EIPA online workshops (December 2021 to April 2022) is available here.

The EIPA consists of a written test and a performance test. Individuals can take both tests, or just one, and neither test is a prerequisite for the other. It is not a certification process (see the separate article on the RID ED:K-12 Certificate moratorium), but a minimum EIPA score is required to work as an educational interpreter in most states. Interpreters must check with their state for requirements as there is no standard score. A score of 4.0 or above on the EIPA is considered optimal for interpreting in the educational setting.

More details on the written test are located here.

More information on the Performance Test is available here:

Check out the Classroom Interpreting website for much more information on educational interpreting and the EIPA.

Holders of the ED:K-12 Certificate demonstrated the ability to interpret or transliterate classroom content and discourse between students who are deaf and hard of hearing and students, teachers and school staff who are hearing. They demonstrated a score of 4.0 or higher on the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA), using spoken English and at least one of the following visual languages, constructs, or symbol systems at either an elementary or secondary level:

• American Sign Language (ASL)
• Manually Coded English (MCE)
• Contact Signing (aka: Pidgin Signed English (PSE) or English-like Signing)
• Cued American English (CAE) (aka: Cued Speech)

No ED:K-12 Certificates have been issued for nearly six years.

The RID “Certificates Under Moratorium” page on their website states that:

Restarting the awarding of these certifications is dependent upon

• RID operationalizing the 2007 member motion regarding establishment of criteria for recognizing tests other than RID’s – such as Boys Town, BEI, or some other non-RID or CASLI created testing tool
• The adoption of this criteria by the RID certified membership
• Application of these entities for recognition of their test, and compliance of the test with the approved criteria

If and when these events happen, then the RID Board could determine lifting the moratorium on the appropriate certifications.

However, RID has a contract with Boys Town verifying the psychometrics and confirming the 4.0 meets RID standards. That raises a question: with this contract in place, why was the moratorium on the ED:K-12 Certificate not lifted when the moratoriums were lifted on the NIC and CDI certifications?

Some hopeful news though on this issue – the RID Board of Directors has recently created a K-12 Educational Interpreter Task Force. More detail on that task force will be forthcoming from RID.