How To Become An Educational Interpreter: What It Is and Career Path

What is an educational interpreter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Educational interpreters provide communication access to students who are deaf or hard of hearing by faithfully and accurately representing the classroom instruction, teacher/student dialogue, and relevant sound information in the mode of communication used by the student.

Educational interpreters must process language quickly and accurately, and they must think about spoken English and sign language simultaneously. Interpreting is also about supporting the educational goals and outcomes as defined by the student's Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Generally, educational interpreters require a bachelor's degree. First of all, they have to attend a language program that allows them to master the foreign language they will use for the job, unless they are born bilingual.

The average educational interpreter makes about $47,971 per year; that's $23.06 per hour. They can expect an average base pay ranging from $45,000 to $60,000.

ScoreEducational InterpreterUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,807

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate 20%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 10.29%

Black or African American 6.08%

Hispanic or Latino 19.65%

Unknown 4.45%

White 59.30%

Gender

female 83.07%

male 16.93%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an educational interpreter

Explore educational interpreter education requirements

Most common educational interpreter degrees

Bachelor's

62.4 %

Associate

26.1 %

Master's

7.4 %

Start to develop specific educational interpreter skills

Skills	Percentages
EIPA	27.88%
Facilitate Communication	14.66%
Math	7.68%
Mathematics	7.38%
IEP	7.05%

Complete relevant educational interpreter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New educational interpreters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an educational interpreter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real educational interpreter resumes.

Research educational interpreter duties and responsibilities

Manage marketing initiatives for all CME and CPE conferences which include e-mail deployments and content design for all marketing collateral.
Demonstrate natural leadership and mentoring skills working with groups of ASL students.
Interpret from ASL to English and English to ASL for students in classroom settings.
Serve as an educational assistant and dedicate aide in the special education department as well as in a general education kindergarten classroom

Prepare your educational interpreter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your educational interpreter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an educational interpreter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable educational interpreter resume templates

Build a professional educational interpreter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your educational interpreter resume.