[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 89 (Monday, May 10, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25140-25142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-11703]
[[Page 25139]]
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Part IV
Department of Education
_______________________________________________________________________
Training of Interpreters for Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of
Hearing and Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 89 / Monday, May 10, 1999 / Notices
[[Page 25140]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Training of Interpreters for Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of
Hearing and Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed priorities for fiscal year (FY) 2000 and
subsequent fiscal years
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes funding priorities under the Training
of Interpreters for Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and
Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind program. The Secretary may use these
priorities for competitions in FY 2000 and in subsequent years. The
Secretary takes this action to assist with the establishment of
interpreter training programs or to assist ongoing programs to train a
sufficient number of qualified interpreters throughout the country to
meet the communication needs of individuals who are deaf or hard of
hearing and individuals who are deaf-blind by-- (a) Training new
manual, tactile, oral, and cued speech interpreters; (b) Ensuring the
maintenance of the skills of working interpreters; and (c) Providing
opportunities for interpreters to raise their level of competence and
expand their skills.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 9, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about these proposed priorities to Mary
Lovley, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Mary E.
Switzer Building, Room 3217, Washington, DC 20202-2736. If you prefer
to send your comments through the Internet, use the following address:
Mary__Lovley@ed.gov
You must include the term ``Grants for Training Interpreters'' in
the subject line of your electronic message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Lovley. Telephone: (202) 205-
9393. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you
may call the TDD number at (202) 401-3664.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Training of Interpreters for Individuals
Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind
program is authorized under section 302(f) of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973, as amended.
Goals 2000: Educate America Act
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act (Goals 2000) focuses the
Nation's education reform efforts on the eight National Education Goals
and provides a framework for meeting them. Goals 2000 promotes new
partnerships to strengthen schools and expands the Department's
capacities for helping communities to exchange ideas and obtain
information needed to achieve the goals.
These proposed priorities support the National Education Goal that,
by the year 2000, every adult American will be literate and will
possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global
economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
The proposed priorities further the objectives of this Goal by focusing
available funds on projects that train a sufficient number of qualified
interpreters throughout the country to meet the communication needs of
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who are
deaf-blind. Training and improving the manual, tactile, oral, and cued
speech interpreting skills of interpreters working in vocational
rehabilitation environments will improve the ability of individuals who
are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who are deaf-blind to
function successfully in their vocational pursuits.
The Secretary will announce the final priorities in a notice in the
Federal Register. The final priorities will be determined by responses
to this notice, available funds, and other considerations of the
Department. Funding of particular projects depends on the availability
of funds, the nature of the final priorities, and the quality of the
applications received. The publication of these proposed priorities
does not preclude the Secretary from proposing additional priorities,
nor does it limit the Secretary to funding only these priorities,
subject to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.
Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which the Secretary chooses to use any of these priorities, the
Secretary invites applications through a notice in the Federal
Register. A notice inviting applications under these competitions
will be published in the Federal Register concurrent with or
following publication of the notice of final priorities.
Priorities
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) the Secretary proposes to give an
absolute preference to applications that meet one of the following
priorities. The Secretary proposes to fund under these competitions
only applications that meet one of these absolute priorities:
Proposed Priority 1--National Project With Major Emphasis on Distance
Education as a Medium for Interpreter Training
Background
Historically interpreter training programs have been located in
colleges and universities in metropolitan areas or in areas of high
population. While demand for interpreter services exceeds the supply of
interpreters even in metropolitan areas, the dearth of interpreters in
rural areas is marked. A Study of Interpreter Services for Persons Who
are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, published in 1993, concluded that ``there
is sufficient work/need for additional professional interpreters in
every state and many major communities.'' Organizations such as the
National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and the Registry of Interpreters
for the Deaf (RID) have also identified the shortage of qualified
interpreters. Some States, such as Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia, as well
as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territories of
the Pacific other than Guam, have no degree granting interpreter
training program. Due to the relatively sparse population in large
geographical areas, student enrollment may not be sufficient to support
interpreter training programs should they be established in these
areas. As a result, individuals living in these States or areas who are
interested in obtaining interpreter training must seek that training at
a great distance from their homes. Further, the few working
interpreters living in these States or areas who wish to maintain or
upgrade their skills often find it difficult to locate nearby sources
for continuing education. Distance education can help fill this void.
The challenge, however, is to effectively deliver the interpreter
training curricula, which is a skill-based, visual-based curricula
rather than a knowledge-based or text-based curricula. Therefore, it is
of critical importance that interpreter training curricula be modified
to make the best use of a blend of all of the available technologies,
such as video conferencing, internet web classes and chat rooms, e-
mail, and voice mail. With proper curricular modifications, interpreter
training can be provided via distance education to rural areas, remote
locations, and areas with low populations in a cost-effective manner.
[[Page 25141]]
The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) has determined
that a national project is needed that will focus on adapting existing
model interpreter training curricula used by two-year and four-year
interpreter training programs for delivery via distance education. In
addition, there is a need for technical assistance to, and coordination
and cooperation with, interpreter training programs across the Nation
on matters related to the use of distance education as a medium for
interpreter training.
Priority
A project must--
Be national in scope;
Adapt or modify existing model interpreter training
curricula or develop new appropriate interpreter training curricula for
delivery via distance education and package it for easy use by the RSA-
funded regional interpreter training projects and other trainers and
interpreter training programs;
Develop detailed instruction manuals to accompany each
packaged curriculum;
Provide technical assistance to interpreter training
programs on the feasibility and effectiveness of distance interpreter
education;
Establish cooperative working relationships with the RSA-
funded regional interpreter training projects;
Furnish technical assistance to the RSA-funded regional
interpreter training projects in developing and using distance
education as a mechanism for training interpreters to meet the
communication needs of individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or
deaf-blind in their regions;
Provide technical assistance and professional development
opportunities for interpreter trainers across the Nation on the
development and use of distance education as a mechanism for training
interpreters to meet the communication needs of individuals who are
deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. The technical assistance must
address matters such as the proper use of the distance interpreter
education curriculum; the proper use of the most current and available
technologies, such as video conferencing, videotaping, internet web
classes and chat rooms, e-mail, and voice mail; the technical
infrastructure needed to successfully conduct distance interpreter
education; and the policy implications and barriers that exist in
providing distance interpreter education across a State or across State
lines (e.g., classification of distance education students as in-State
or out-of-State, the geographic area the institution is designed to
serve, etc.); and
Disseminate the packaged distance education curricula to
interpreter educators nationwide.
Proposed Priority 2--National Project With Major Emphasis on Training
Interpreter Educators
Background
In order to train qualified interpreters, interpreter educators
must be both sufficient in number and current in knowledge and best
practices. There are, however, very few programs that prepare
interpreter educators to teach the interpreting process and the skill
of interpreting. As a result, many faculty teaching at the 100-plus
interpreter training programs have had little or no opportunity to
study how to teach interpretation. Further, over the last 10 years RSA
has funded the development of model curricula emphasizing the
interpreting needs of culturally diverse communities, deaf-blind
interpreting, and interpreting in educational and rehabilitation
environments. Due to the low number of programs to train interpreter
educators, this curriculum is not being shared widely and, as a result,
is not being used extensively.
The model curricula on interpreting in educational environments and
interpreting in rehabilitation environments is available at the
National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials at Oklahoma
State University, 5202 Richmond Hill Drive, Stillwater, OK 74078-4080.
The model curricula on the interpreting needs of culturally diverse
communities and interpreting for individuals who are deaf-blind are
being developed under currently funded projects. These curricula will
be available at the National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training
Materials once these projects have completed their activities. The
project developing the model curriculum on the interpreting needs of
culturally diverse communities ends on December 31, 2000, and the
project developing the model curriculum on interpreting for individuals
who are deaf-blind ends on September 30, 2000.
Another aspect of training a sufficient number of qualified
interpreters is the practice of mentoring. Mentors are experienced
interpreters and interpreter educators who provide one-on-one technical
assistance to novice interpreters or to working interpreters who wish
to improve or expand their skills or work toward certification. While
``mentoring is not a substitute for comprehensive interpreter education
or for the internships and practicums associated with such formal
training'' (RID Standard Practice Paper on ``Mentoring''), it supports
and augments the training received in those settings. While the field
of interpreting embraces the use of mentoring, there is no established
uniform mechanism for training individuals to serve as mentors.
In order to train a sufficient number of qualified interpreters
throughout the country, there is a need to increase the number of
highly trained interpreter educators and mentors. A national project is
needed to address these issues.
Priority
A project must--
Be national in scope;
Develop a new curriculum, or update a former or existing
curriculum, to prepare interpreter educators and, once this is
developed, use it to train both working interpreter educators who need
to obtain, enhance, or update their training and new interpreter
educators. This newly developed or updated curriculum must include all
issues pertinent to the training of interpreters and the use of the
model curricula developed by recent and current RSA-funded national
interpreter training projects that emphasize the interpreting needs of
culturally diverse communities, interpreting for deaf-blind
individuals, and interpreting in educational and rehabilitation
environments;
Identify and update or develop a model mentor training
curriculum that includes elements such as diagnostic assessment, goal
setting, discourse analysis, and effective feedback provision and, once
this is developed, train experienced interpreters or interpreter
educators to serve as mentors. This mentor training program must train
mentors to serve in a variety of situations or environments (i.e., in
urban and rural settings; in various regions; in culturally diverse
environments; in situations in which various modes of communication
(deaf-blind, oral, cued speech, etc.) are present; in specialized
settings (legal, medical, educational, etc.); and with interns at
varying skill levels, etc.);
Provide technical assistance to organizations or bodies
establishing mentorship programs and to existing mentorship programs on
all aspects of mentoring, including the identification of trained
mentors;
Ensure that the curricula are developed with input from a
culturally diverse, consumer-based consortium;
Ensure that training is available to culturally diverse
audiences and is sensitive to the needs of all audiences;
[[Page 25142]]
Use innovative as well as traditional approaches to the
provision of training (i.e., distance education, short-term intensive
training sessions or seminars, delivering training to communities in
need, etc.); and
Establish cooperative relationships with the regional
interpreter training projects the Secretary plans to propose in fiscal
year 2000.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to the requirements of Executive Order
12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79. The objective of the
Executive order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a
strengthened federalism by relying on processes developed by State and
local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance.
In accordance with the order, this document is intended to provide
early notification of the Department's specific plans and actions for
this program.
Invitation To Comment
We invite you to submit comments and recommendations regarding
these proposed priorities. During and after the comment period, you may
inspect all public comments about these proposed priorities in the Mary
E. Switzer Building, Room 3217, 330 C Street, SW., Washington, DC.,
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through
Friday of each week except Federal holidays.
Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking
Record
On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for these proposed priorities. If you want to
schedule an appointment for this type of aid, you may call (202) 205-
8113 or (202) 260-9895. If you use a TDD, you may call the Federal
Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you
have questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing
Office (GPO) toll free at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, DC,
area at (202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
Program Authority: 29 U.S.C.772(f).
Dated: May 5, 1999.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.160, Training of
Interpreters for Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and
Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind)
Judith E. Heumann,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 99-11703 Filed 5-7-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U
