Court Reporting Schools FAQs

court reporting schools FAQs

court reporting schools tuition costs? court reporting schools theory, which is best? Accreditation, is it really necessary? NCRA Approved Court Reporting Schools? Credentialed court reporters answer your questions.

For more informational court reporting schools websites and court reporting school information, click on the IMPORTANT LINKS at the top of this page.

COURT REPORTING SCHOOLS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How Long will Court Reporting School REALLY Take?

Court Reporting Schools, both traditional court reporting schools, and traditional online court reporting schools, base their full-time day court reporting schools on two to two and a half years. Statistics show, however, that the actual average for traditional court reporting schools, both on campus, and online are closer to 33 to 36 months.Online court reporting schools are based upon the same guidelines as traditional court reporting schools, taking 36-40 months for most court reporting school students. It is important to note that a quality realtime court reporting school, closed captioning education, can be accomplished in as little as a year, through self paced court reporting homestudy, such as the Court Reporting at Home program.
Many traditional online court reporting schools emphasize their associate degrees, as well as accreditation, and other approvals. Statistics from the National Court Reporters Association show that accreditation, degrees and approvals are not synonymous with quality court reporting school education, or employment opportunity. Almost without exception these same accredited, approved associate degree court reporting schools take much longer to complete, many times two to three times longer than self paced home study court reporting schools, and have as much as 90% drop out rates.

     According to NCRA statistics, in the year 1999 there were approximately 365 accredited, approved court reporting schools teaching court reporting. Today there are about 61 NCRA approved court reporting schools in the country. There are many reasons for this, but the primary ones are lack of professional court reporters involved in court reporting school programs, outdated court reporting school theories that are long, and much more complicated than necessary, as well as court reporting school curriculums that are over loaded with academics that do not apply to the career of court reporting, and substantially increase the length of time the court reporting school student will be paying tuition.

     There is one home study court reporting program, the Court Reporting at Home program, that is truly self paced. The court reporting student is able to study on his or her schedule , thus allowing the court reporting student to train as quickly as possible or to take as long as necessary. Because of the new and unique court reporting training techniques used by this court reporting program, students have completed the program, including court reporting theory, speed building, and all academics in as little as one year. How quickly a court reporting student can complete court reporting schools is based upon their motivation and discipline to practice. Learning to write on the steno machine in court reporting schools is a skill.

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Is it necessary to spend $20-$50,000 to obtain a quality court reporting school education?

No. In fact, some court reporting students have spent $40,000 to $50,000 in a traditional court reporting school setting, both in online and campus settings, and have been unable to complete their training, or pass a certification examination to be employable. Ask a court reporting school how many students in the last two year period of time have graduated from their court reporting school, passed a certification examination and are working. The NCRA's Future Group Report stated that their findings were "brutal," that the NCRA had been supporting a method of court reporting school training that had never been very successful, with traditional court reporting schools experiencing an 85-90% attrition (dropout) rate. And of the 05-10% of students who did graduate from the NCRA-approved court reporting schools, many of those were unable to pass any court reporting certification examination upon graduation.
Make sure all of your questions are answered. Many schools use commissioned sales representatives to speak with the prospective student, who have little knowledge about the profession, and even less about the court reporting schools use of credentialed court reporters in teaching positions etc.

What is NCRA approval? Do I have to attend an NCRA-approved court reporting school in order to be accepted by employers
and other reporters?

The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) is a trade organization that court reporters and court reporting school students may voluntarily join. The NCRA administers national certification examinations which are accepted in most states. A few states require you to still pass their state court reporting certification examination. The NCRA has MINIMUM standards and requirements that court reporting schools must meet in order to obtain their "seal of approval." Because these are MINIMUM requirements for court reporting schools, it does not follow that because court reporting schools ARE NCRA-approved they are necessarily excellent court reporting school education. Conversely, just because a court reporting school is not NCRA-approved, it does not mean that the court reporting school is not excellent court reporting school education.
Additionally, over thet past 10-15 years, more than half the NCRA Approved court reporting schools in the U.S. have closed. This is ironic as the demand for court reporters, broadcast (closed) captioners, and CART providers has increased tremendously. That is one reason some non- traditional home study, distance education court reporting schools have been successful. Many states do not have one traditional court reporting school.

With demand for jobs in court reporting and closed captioning expected to grow by 25% over the next ten years, unique, faster, more practical training programs, such as the Court Reporting at Home program, are going to be necessary to meet the demand.

What about voice recognition technology in court reporting and closed captioning and stenomask? How do they compare to machine court reporting and has voice recognition been successful?

An informal survey of national captioning companies, as well as realtime court reporters and court reporting firms found that the number of voice recognition realtime closed captioners and court reporters working today are miniscule. In fact the national captioning companies surveyed had none. Captioning companies surveyed in one of the largest states, both local and national, stated they only used machine realtime reporters.
Bill Gates, the CEO of Microsoft, has stated voice recognition will not replace machine court reporters in our lifetime. Many institutions and schools are promoting voice recognition because they advertise it as a six month to one year program. As a prospective student you should contact captioning companies as well as court reporting firms to determine the true demand.
Only about half of the states allow voice reporting or voice recognition in the profession of court reporting.

To Learn More About the Career of Voice Recognition and Stenomask
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How important is it to be taught by professional reporters and captioners?

Court reporting and closed captioning careers are unlike any other careers out there. The court reporting school should use professional court reporters, broadcast (closed) captioners, and CART providers. Many court reporting schools often only have one court reporter on the faculty, who may only teach the court reporting procedures class. The court reporting instructors who teach you in your court reporting school should be individuals who have been credentialed court reporters, broadcast (closed) captioners, and CART providers, and successfully performed their chosen profession. If they simply hold a CRI (Certified Reporting Instructor) credential, it means they have only attended a National Court Reporters Association Convention and attended sessions regarding how to teach these careers.
Quality support,or the lack of, in your court reporting school from credentialed court reporters will be the difference in success of failure.

Do I Need an Associates Degree

No, having a college degree is nice, but it does not make you more employable or allow you to earn more income as a court reporter or closed captioner. What makes you employable in the court reporting profession, is your ability to produce a transcript accurately and quickly and to pass a court reporting certification examination if one is required in your state.
The most practical and best choice for a court reporting school is the one that prepares you to pass the necessary court reporting certification exam in your state, or the national RPR.
Associates degrees from court reporting schools require academics that are not necessary and only serve to prolong your court reporting school training.
For a list of court reporting school academics necessarty for court reporting certification visit www.courtreportingschoolsonline.com
An informal poll found that the majority of court reporters and closed captioners today, do not have college degrees. Our research found that the last four year college offering a degree in court reporting ceased enrolling court reporting school students over two years ago.
Much more important than degrees or diplomas is a staff of credentialed court reporters at the court reporting school to guide the court reporting school student through court reporting school training as quickly as possible, and with the necessary realtime court reporting skills and teaching abilities to propel you in to the court reporting or closed captioning profession, as a capable above average realtime court reporter.

Do I have to pass a court reporting certification examination before I can work? What does the test entail?

About one half of the states require court reporting certification. For detailed information about court reporting certification CLICK HERE.
Closed Captioners are not required to be certified in any State. For more information see
www.closedcaptioningschools.com

What Steno Machine Should you Choose

There are many models of steno machines available to court reporting school students. One is an old-fashioned student model machine that has a manual touch to the keyboard, and no computer
capabilities.
The Stentura SRT 200 is a discontinued court reporting realtime writing steno machine that comes with a realtime cable to allow the court reporting school student to learn the court reporting software, but it has the manual touch to the keyboard.
The discontinued Stentura SRT 400 is a court reporting school student model, realtime writing machine, that comes with a realtime cable to allow the court reporting school student to learn the court reporting software.
The newest student model court reporting realtime writing machine that can also be used professionally, when connected by attaching the realtime cable, or wireless, to a computer is the Protege` steno machine. It has wireless capability and is a state of the art machine.

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Do I have to attend an accredited school in order to be accepted by other reporters and employers?

No, you do not. According to a report conducted by the National Court Reporters Association, in 1999 there were approximately 360 accredited court reporting schools teaching court reporting in the U.S. Today there are only about 80. Accreditation does not guarantee quality, or employment.
Court reporting schools have accreditation for the purpose of providing federally backed guaranteed student loans. These programs usually cost $30,000 to $50,000, and take as long as 3 to 5 years to complete.

Court Reporters must be licensed and certified by virtue of passing a court reporting examination in approximately half the states in the United States. Just graduating from an accredited school does not allow you to work. If you reside in a state that does not require you to pass a court reporting certification examination, you will still have to prove your capability by producing an accurate transcript. Court reporting and closed captioning employers do not care where or how you are trained. Attending an accredited court reporting school does not make you more employable or allow you to earn more
income.

Do I need a proctor?

No. It is a waste of your time. It is very time consuming to find an individual or individuals to be present while you are taking a test. It is only to ensure you do not cheat. If you cheat, you cheat yourself, because you have to eventually prove your abilities by passing a certification exam or producing a quality transcript. Requiring you to have a proctor just assumes you are going to cheat.

How much do court reporters and captioners earn?

The national statistic is based upon court reporters of all kinds, freelance reporters who own their own court reporting business, freelance court reporters who work for a court reporting firm or court reporting agency, official court reporters who work in the courthouse, brand new court reporters and reporters who have worked for many years. So the statistic is not reliable in terms of what an individual might earn his first year or in 5 or 10 years. However, $61,000 ?? is the figure that the NCRA has arrived at. The very low end of the scale would be about $45,000 for a reporter and $100,000 and more would be the high end of the scale.

The variables that affect how much a court reporter might earn include the capability of the court reporter, the kind of assignments handled by the court reporter, how many copies of the transcript the court reporter may sell, the services (realtime reporting) the court reporter may offer, and how much the reporter works.

Do I need to begin training with a steno machine from the first day?

ABSOLUTELY! There are some programs that will teach you academic courses for about 9 months while you pay in a small monthly payment. After you have paid in enough to cover the cost of the steno machine, then they send you the machine. The NCRA does not approve any program or school that does not begin teaching you with a steno machine from the beginning. Read the fine print and be certain to ask any school or program if you will receive a steno machine from the very beginning.

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