CENTER for OUTREACH SERVICES
Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment
EIPA Written Test
EIPA Performance Test
EIPA Written Test
The EIPA Written Test evaluates an interpreter’s understanding of information critical to interpreting for students in an educational setting. The test covers a range of topics from child development to education to Deaf culture.
The EIPA Written Test is available at testing sites in Ohio.
The EIPA Written Test is a multiple-choice assessment administered over the internet on computer with a local proctor. The cost for the test is $175. For more information or to register, visit the Boys Town EIPA Written Test web page.
Preparing for the EIPA Written Test
Boys Town suggests that to prepare for the EIPA Written Test you review the knowledge standards and the EIPA Code of Professional Conduct for Educational Interpreters on which the test is based and consider how you will apply this knowledge to different situations.
As you prepare for the EIPA Written Test using the Boys Town resources, consider the following suggestions:
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Read each section of the EIPA knowledge standards and Code of Professional Conduct, underline and/or take notes on terms or ideas that are unfamiliar or less familiar, and look for more information. (For example, under Cognitive Development they mention Piagetian approaches, so you could look up Piaget. They also mention "taxonomy of skill levels," which they don't name, but it is Bloom's Taxonomy, so you could look for more information about that.)
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Develop flash cards for items or develop a quiz related to items on the content areas. You could also develop something that crosses content areas. For example, look at the Student Development, Cognitive Development, and Language Development sections and categorize items by student age group (younger students' development in each area compared to older students' development).
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Look through the knowledge standards for descriptions of student traits (see the Student Development, Cognitive Development, and Language Development sections). Based on these student traits, develop corresponding lists of skills related to interpreting in a school system and describe how these skills are different from skills needed when interpreting for adults.
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Work with a mentor in the ISLR Mentoring Program to help you prepare.
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Contact ISLR staff members to consult with you to answer questions, suggest resources particularly appropriate for you, etc.
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EIPA Performance Test
The Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) Performance Test evaluates the ability of an interpreter to convey classroom content and interactions voice-to-sign and child or teen sign language sign-to-voice. It is both a proficiency test and a diagnostic tool; the report the interpreter receives includes a rating between 0 to 5 as well as feedback and suggestions for professional development.
The EIPA Performance Test is administered by Boys Town National Research Hospital and is proctored by Local Test Administrators (LTAs) at testing sites around the country. The Ohio School for the Deaf is one of the testing sites in Ohio for the EIPA Performance Test.
Candidates choose whether they want to be assessed at the elementary or secondary level. Candidates also choose whether to be tested using primarily American Sign Language (which the EIPA identifies as ASL-PSE), primarily Pidgin Signed English (identified as PSE-ASL), or primarily Manually Coded English (identified as MCE-PSE).
Videos of actual classrooms and interviews with deaf students are used as the interpreting stimuli. The candidate has a warm-up period before the test to review lesson plans and vocabulary for the voice-to-sign portion and view a sample of the child/teen signer's language use for the sign-to-voice portion. The whole testing experience generally takes two to three hours. The candidate's performance is recorded on video and sent to Boys Town National Research Hospital, the administrator of the EIPA, for rating. For a more in-depth description of the EIPA testing materials and process, see the EIPA's web page about the EIPA Evaluation Process.
The candidate's work is evaluated by a team of three trained raters using specific criteria. Psychometric review of the EIPA has confirmed the inter-rater reliability and the validity of the test. Raters watch for patterns of behavior, not minor errors. You do not need to interpret perfectly to obtain an excellent score. An evaluation report including results, feedback and professional development suggestions is sent to candidates within 90 days of testing. For more details about how the work sample is evaluated and reported, including the rating form used and a sample evaluation report, see EIPA's web page on the EIPA Rating System.
Preparing for the EIPA Performance Test
You may find the following resources helpful as you prepare to take the EIPA Performance Test:
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EIPA Rating Form (pdf)
Reviewing the EIPA rating form can help you understand how your work will be evaluated.
- Marty Taylor's assessment books: Interpretation SKILLS: American Sign Language to English and Interpretation SKILLS: English to American Sign Language. These books describe errors which can be made in the interpreting process. See the suggestions below for how these books can be used.
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Voice-to-Sign Practice Materials
Voice-to-sign practice materials for the EIPA you may want to seek are those which are most like the EIPA testing videos: classroom instruction videos that include student interactions, ideally with a written lesson plan and key vocabulary you can review in advance.
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Sign-to-Voice Practice Materials
Video source materials that are most like the EIPA will be child or teen signers discussing issues of importance to youth. In addition to the sources listed above, resources which may be helpful include:
Suggestions for working on the EIPA-Performance materials:
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To help determine whether to take the elementary or secondary level test, review the EIPA Written Test knowledge standards for those that are age-related. Use this information to describe skills specific to the two age groups. Consider which set of skills best matches your strengths.
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For each skill area listed on the EIPA Performance Test Rating Form, look for descriptions of common interpreter errors in Marty Taylor's assessment books described above. Make a chart of potential errors that incorporates both the rating form and the
Taylor descriptors.
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Videotape your own work, setting up the videotaping procedures to follow the EIPA procedures as much as possible. View your work, looking first only at the interpretation (e.g. with the sound off for voice-to-sign or looking away from the screen for sign-to-voice). Consider EIPA Performance Test Rating Form, including the scales and subscales, and what you have learned is expected by the raters from the above activities. Consider what skills you need to focus on improving.
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Focusing on the skills you have identified, practice with resources identified above. Practice interpreting sign-to-voice with child or teen signers. Practice interpreting voice-to-sign with classroom videos, making sure to include student comments. Practice what you will do when you miss something.
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Work with a mentor in the ISLR Mentoring Program to help you prepare.
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Contact ISLR staff members to consult with you to answer questions, suggest resources or ways to practice particularly appropriate for you, etc.