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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 39 / Tuesday, March 2, 2021 / Proposed Rules deaf, hard of hearing, or DeafBlind 1 and has funded interpreter training projects since 1974. In 2016, the Department funded four national projects to provide specialized training in the areas of dysfluent language competencies, behavioral health interpreting, protactile American Sign Language ASL, and preparing interpreters, especially those from communities of color and heritage signing backgrounds, to work in legal settings. The Department also funded a national project to provide experiential learning to novice interpreters and reduce the length of time between graduation and certification. Information about the 2016
interpreter training projects may be accessed through the Rehabilitation Services Administrations National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials NCRTM at ncrtm.ed.gov.
Further, the Rehabilitation Act continues to support the communication needs of individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or DeafBlind. The Rehabilitation Act requires that the State Plan establish and maintain minimum standards to ensure the availability of personnel within the designated State unit, to the maximum extent feasible, trained to communicate in the native language or mode of communication of an applicant or eligible individual section 1017C. When this is not possible, such as for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or DeafBlind, the services of interpreters trained to communicate using the native language or mode of communication of an applicant or eligible individual are used. Section 302f of the Rehabilitation Act addresses the need for providing interpreting services for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or DeafBlind by authorizing grants for the training of interpreters.
To continue to effectively meet the communication needs of individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or DeafBlind, the Department proposes a priority to provide training to working interpreters i.e., interpreters with a baccalaureate degree in ASL-English who possess a minimum of three years of relevant experience as an interpreter in one of four specialty areas. This priority focuses on preparing interpreters to work in VR settings.
According to the RSA911,2 in program 1 Individual who is deaf, individual who is hard of hearing, and individual who is deafblind are defined in 34 CFR 396.4.
2 RSA uses data collected through the Case Service Report RSA911 OMB control number 18200508 for the State VR Services Program and the State Supported Employment SE Services
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year PY 2019, 7.43 percent 64,860 of all VR participants 872,643 were deaf, hard of hearing, or DeafBlind.
Specifically, 2.6 percent were deaf, 4.68
percent were hard of hearing, and 0.15
percent were DeafBlind. The RSA911
data show that interpreter services were used by 1,404 VR participants who achieved competitive integrated employment CIE outcomes in PY 2019, including 1,144 participants who are deaf, 231 participants who are hard of hearing, and 29 participants who are DeafBlind.
Interpreter training in specific specialty areas is necessary to meet the ongoing and diverse needs of individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind. A 2015 Trends Survey documented 47 percent of service providers reporting an increase in the number of deaf individuals pursuing education or employment in specialized fields Schafer and Cokely, 2016. Interpreters must be able to understand and communicate proficiently using technical vocabulary and highly specialized discourse in a variety of complex specialty areas in both ASL and English.
In order to effectively train working interpreters in specific specialty areas, we propose a priority that incorporates high-quality remote learning,3 field induction, mentorship, and coaching.
Unlike spoken language majors, which often include a semester or year-long study abroad experience, many interpreting majors do not offer immersion opportunities. Classroom instruction alone is inadequate, and meaningful program interaction with diverse communities of deaf people is missing from most programs Cokely and Cogen, 2015.
Experiential learning theory, a learning style first introduced by David Kolb in 1984, describes the value of learning through experience and meaningful program interaction, such as induction, mentorship, and coaching Bentley-Sassaman, 2014. Working interpreters can apply Kolbs experiential learning theory to enhance their professional growth and skills.
Under Kolbs approach, there are four key abilities that create an effective learning cycle. These abilities include Program to describe the performance of the VR and SE programs in the Annual Report to the Congress and the President as required by sections 13 and 101a10 of the Rehabilitation Act.
3 Remote learning means programming where at least part of the learning occurs away from the physical building in a manner that addresses a learners educational needs. Remote learning may include online, hybrid/blended learning, or nontechnology-based learning e.g., lab kits, project supplies, paper packets. 85 FR 86550 December 30, 2020

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concrete experience CE, reflective observation RO, abstract conceptualization AC, and active experimentation AE. To achieve CE, working interpreters must involve themselves fully, openly, and without bias in new experiences. To achieve RO, working interpreters must reflect on and observe their experiences from many perspectives. To achieve AC, working interpreters must create concepts that integrate their observations into logically sound theories. Lastly, to achieve AE, working interpreters must use these theories to make decisions and solve problems Bentley-Sassaman, 2014.
According to Bentley-Sassaman 2014, the majority of learning for ASLEnglish interpreters takes place in the field, where they have hands-on experiences and the guidance of a mentor. Mentoring refines skills development through observation and reflection and builds on the experiential learning component. Under a mentors supervision, students have the opportunity to apply foundational knowledge and then gather feedback from their mentor and apply it to their next activity or interpretation assignment.
Through the proposed priority, the Secretary intends to award one national project in each of the following specialty areas: 1 Increasing skills of novice interpreters, 2 trilingual interpreting including Spanish i.e., language fluency in first, second, and third languages with one of the three languages being ASL, and 3 advanced skills for working interpreters. In addition, the Secretary intends to award four national projects in a fourth specialty area, a field-initiated project.
With respect to Specialty Area 1
increasing skills for novice interpreters, according to the National Interpreter Education Center NIEC, challenges facing interpreter training and education programs are prevalent.
In 2015, NIEC conducted a study to examine the disconnect between interpreter education and workreadiness Cogen and Cokely, 2015. Its findings suggest that interpreter training and education programs have, in many instances, failed to produce ASL-fluent graduates. Graduates are generally unable to understand the English message and interpret it accurately from spoken English to ASL and from ASL to spoken English in a manner that is fluent and matches the source message in content, tone, and register.
Data gathered from the 2015 NIEC
trends survey and two needs assessments revealed that newly graduated interpreters have a limited
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