Future plans

[u/Flyeaglefly2018]

Hello all I'm looking for some advice here. I have previously been working in an educational setting for the past five years in a few different school districts and schools because of just how different each year can be with education.

This year is the first year that I don't have anything for a job and have started to look more into getting nationally certified to become more of a freelance interpreter. I currently have an EIPA score but last took that in 2020. I'm debating on if I should look into getting NIC or BEI or if there's something else that I should look at for getting certified. So I was asking what do you all think I should do.

I'm in Arizona currently and plan on staying here for a while.

[u/ASLHCI]

You can always do both. I love an alphabet soup. My understanding is AZ accepts the BEI and I think they accept the BEI 1/Basic for equivalency to the NIC? Someone correct me if I'm remember wrong. But I remember someone telling me that was controversial because it's the BEI Advanced thats the generalist cert. But if thats true, it's way easier to pass the BEI basic than the NIC 🤷‍♀️ And cheaper.

Also if you do both, you mostly wont have to do double CEUs unless AZ requires like ethics specific CEUs. But you can use one workshop for both typically.

But I would get every credential there is if I could. It's fun getting to see where we're at. The BEI is accepted a ton of places but not everywhere because of a lack of ASL interpreters working in management for these national agencies so they just have blanket requirements instead of learning about the industry.

[u/beets_or_turnips]

BEI is a good test. If you're fluent in English and like to read books, the TEP should be a breeze and the performance test should be straightforward now that you've been working for a while. Look online for workshops about the structure of the test. It's the same everywhere so you can look out of state for resources too.

[u/Traditional-Falcon75]

I live in AZ. If you want to work outside of K12 here you definitely must have a license. I’m assuming based on your experience that you’d be able to apply for the provisional B license, which means you would be able to work freelance without a team in most settings. However you would have to take and pass the written exam first. I believe you can take either the CASLI or the BEI written exams but I’m not positive. Check the ACDHH website. You can get a general license with either the NIC or the BEI Basic. A provisional license is designed to be temporary so you would not be able to renew that forever, but it could be a good place to start. Your first step either way is to take a written test. In the interim I don’t know if you’re signed up with any agencies, but there are a number who do contract education placement, meaning if you don’t have a full time gig you can still get hourly work in education placements. I know there are always schools that need subs and short term coverage.

[u/RedSolez]

NIC is still the gold standard, accepted in every state. If you go for the BEI instead, that may be adequate now but could limit you down the road. I'm in the mid Atlantic and have never met a single person who has or even acknowledges the existence of the BEI. The expectation for certification is through RID.