The Educational Interpreter Supervision and Support Survey: Part 1

Little literature exists documenting how K-12 American Sign Language-English interpreters are supervised or evaluated, or how supervision and evaluation affect interpreters and deaf and hard of hearing students. To address this gap, the author asked 230 educational interpreters about their experiences of supervision. Using a critical policy analysis framework and transformational leadership lens, the author conducted a Qualtrics online survey consisting of 42 open- and closed-ended items. Descriptive and statistical results are reported. Chi-square tests showed a significant difference in supervisory activities based on whether or not the supervisor was a credentialed interpreter. Supervisors who were interpreters conducted more job evaluations, assessed interpreting skills more often, and organized professional development more frequently than non-interpreters.