Court Reporting Schools FAQ #2

HOW MUCH SHOULD COURT REPORTING SCHOOL COST? 

    Is it necessary to spend $25,000 to $50,000 for a quality court reporting school education?  
    Absolutely not.  Don't be misled by accredited, Associate's Degree granting colleges of court reporting.  An IMPORTANT FACT to consider is that many court reporting schools today are owned by corporations with no affiliation of any kind to the career of court reporting or court reporting education. They claim to have been in the field of court reporting education for many years when many times the original school has been sold at least  once and its only affiliation to the original school is that it kept the name. Ask the school if it is owned and operated by credentialed court reporters.


    Many court reporting school students drop out of court reporting schools with loans in excess of $40,000, unable to complete their training or pass certification examinations allowing them to work. Ask the court reporting college or court reporting school how many of their students in the last two years have passed certification exams and are working as credentialed court reporters, broadcast captioners, or CART providers. You may be surprised to learn that these colleges of court reporting and court reporting schools, whose tuition may exceed $25,000,  have 85% to 90% dropout rates and may average about one graduate per year, and that graduate may not be able to pass a certification test in their state to work.

    The NCRA's Future Group Report stated that their findings were "brutal," further stating that the NCRA had been supporting a method of court reporting school training that had never been very successful, with most traditional court reporting schools averaging a 90% dropout rate. And of the 5-10% of students who did graduate from the NCRA-approved court reporting colleges and schools, many of these were unable to pass any court reporting certification examination upon graduation.

    Make certain all of your questions are answered. Many court reporting colleges and schools  employ commisioned sales representatives with no court reporting background to speak with prospective students. Ask the important questions. What is the average time for graduation? What is the average cost of your court reporting school tuition upon graduation? Are all of your court reporting instructors credentialed court reporters, with a minimum of the RPR certification from the National Court Reporters Association? Make sure your school employs only credentialed court reporters for instructors.  Some traditional schools and their online programs only employ individuals who have CRI (Certified Reporting Instructor) credentials.  This means this individual has simply attended a national convention and sat in on teaching seminars.  It does not mean they are an RPR, CRR, RMR, RDR or any other credentialed reporter.  Some traditional court reporting schools and colleges of court reporting simply employ their graduates to teach in their court reporting school or online program if they are unable to assist them in obtaining employment as a court reporter, broadcast captioner, or CART provider, or if they are unable to pass a certification examination to work in their state.  You do not, of course, want to pay thousands of dollars for training and invest years of your life in training to be unable to utilize your skill and to earn the salary of an instructor.

    

Court Reporting News copied from the National Court Reporters Association Tech Tracker email 07/2010..... WHY ELECTONIC RECORDING IS NOT A VIABLE METHOD FOR THE COURT SYSTEM

Various court systems in some states have tried electronic recording for several years in difficult economic times. Invariably, the cost ends up being substantially more than machine court reporters, and the results of failed equipment and poor quality transcription service bog down the entire legal system.


Inaudibles and Indiscernibles Stall Third District Case

In the Third District, appellant Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company filed a motion to correct the record due to the approximately 10,000 inaudible and indiscernibles that riddle the trial and sidebar transcripts. The errors were not spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors, but substantive mistakes. According to the motion, no court reporter was present during the trial, and the audio discs taken of the proceedings were sent to a transcription service.

The District Court pursued its own review of the transcripts and learned that several audio discs were missing from the trial. According to the motion, "Despite the District Court's best efforts, the record is not certifiable at this point." The appellants requested an extension to review the transcript once the District Court has produced a certified record. 

 

 

Court Reporting Schools FAQ #3

WHAT IS NCRA APPROVAL, AND IS IT NECESSARY? 

    The National Court Reporters Association sets minimum standards and requirements for its approved traditional schools. Because a traditional court reporting school is NCRA approved does not ensure it has a quality educational program.   It only means the traditional school has met the minimum standards and requirements.  Conversely, a school that chooses not to participate in the NCRA approval process may still have a very quality education. The NCRA is an excellent organization and does great things for its members, but its own  statistics indicate that since 1999 well over one half of NCRA-approved schools have gone out of business, been closed by government agencies, or dropped their court reporting programs often preventing their students from completing their training. 

    The NCRA is currently conducting its own pilot program to train students to determine better training methods to recommend to their NCRA-approved schools.   The certification the court reporting school student receives from  their state or the NCRA by testing is the measure a potential employer will use to evaluate your skills. Do not rely upon NCRA approval as the determining factor for quality education.                
 

Court Repong Schools FAQ #5

IS IT NECESSARY TO BE TAUGHT BY CREDENTIALED COURT REPORTERS?

 YES! YES! YES!  Court Reporting, Closed Captioning, and CART Providing are unlike any other careers. To be taught by someone who has never attained a minimum of the RPR credential is not acceptable. Credentials such as the CRI (Certified Reporting Instructor) or CLVS (Certified Legal Video Specialist) are nice, but any court reporting school instructor should hold the minimum of the RPR to teach or dictate any court reporting or closed captioning classes. 

    Many colleges of court reporting and schools of court reporting use student dropouts or even graduates of the court reporting schools who have not been able to pass certification examinations as instructors. Your instructors in court reporting school should at least hold the same credential they expect you to attain. Some schools use readers with absolutely no court reporting training or job experience for dictation.  These individuals cannot answer questions about how to write basic steno.  

    Would you want to be operated on by a surgeon who had been taught by someone who had just read about surgery who had never performed a real surgery?  No, I don't think so. 

Court Reporting Schools FAQ #6

WHAT COURT REPORTING THEORY DOES THE COURT REPORTING SCHOOL TEACH?

    Theory is one of the most important components of your court reporting training along with speed building.  Most theories taught in court reporting schools today are over ten years old and not up to date with the court reporting CAT software.  Some theories are referred to as "stroke intensive," meaning it takes many more strokes to write the same word or phrase as it would take in other theories.  Some theories are referred to as "memorization intensive,"  meaning you are required to memorize thousands of shortcuts for writing one-stroke words.  Both of these methods slow you down in building speed. 

    According to the NCRA's Future Group Report, traditional schools are teaching long, complex theories that are no longer necessary that make it difficult for students to build speed and is one of the reasons cited in their Report for the failure of traditional, accredited, NCRA-approved court reporting schools and colleges of court reporting to adequately train court reporting, broadcast captioning, and CART providing students.  So research the theory taught wherever you decide to train. Click Here to visit the NCRA  web page of NCRA approved theories.

Court Reporting Schools FAQ # 8 

Do you teach CAT software and furnish a prebuilt steno dictionary?

    It is important you learn a CAT (Computer Aided Transcription) software program at some point in your training.   CAT software translates steno notes into English text either on a computer screen or the television screen.   All the CAT software programs are very similar, so it doesn't matter a great deal which one they require you to learn.

    A steno dictionary is a computer file that you copy into your CAT software program which enables the software to translate your steno notes into English.  Some court reporting schools furnish you a prebuilt steno dictionary.  However, some court reporting schools require you to develop your own steno dictionary from scratch which can take months and months to develop even a basic steno dictionary.   Find out the cost, who will be training you on the software, and when the training is introduced in your court reporting school program.

 

Court Reporting Schools FAQ #4

DOES AN ASSOCIATES DEGREE OR ACCREDITATION IMPROVE MY CHANCE FOR COURT REPORTING, BROADCAST CAPTIONING or CART PROVIDING EMPLOYMENT?

    No.  Associate's degrees substantially increase the cost of your court reporting school education and require you to take needless academics that have no relevance to passing court reporting certification examinations administered either by your state or the NCRA.

    Academics from Associate's degree programs and accredited court reporting schools such as sociology, history, human relations, algebra, communications, and word processing only serve to lengthen your time in court reporting school and take time from your most important subjects which are court reporting theory and court reporting speed building.

    The academics necessary for court reporting school training are: court reporting procedures, court reporting ethics, court reporting transcript production, legal terminology, medical terminology, English, spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, and computer aided transcription. These are the academics you will find on certification examinations.  Ask your  school if you can test out of these academics if you are already proficient in them.  This can save you months in training and allow you to devote that time to learning your theory and building speed.  Speed building is the longest part of your training.

    Approximately half the states in the U.S. require you to pass a certification examination to work as a court reporter.  If that is the case in your state, simply graduating from a traditional school and obtaining an Associate's Degree is not sufficient to allow you to work in your state.  Only passing your State's CSR (Certified Shorthand Reporter) examination or the national RPR (Registered Professional Reporter) examination, or both in some states, will allow you to work in your state.  

    Much more important than an Associate's Degree or court reporting school accreditation is a staff of qualified, credentialed court reporters to train you throughout your court reporting school training and prepare you to be a proficient real time court reporter,  broadcast closed captioner, or CART provider in a realistic period of time.

     Some home study programs and community colleges offer excellent programs for significantly less money.  Just because a traditional school uses the word "College" in its name does not mean it is a real college.  In many instances, those schools are proprietary, for profit schools, and the "degree" they confer would not transfer to a real college or university.  While no "certificate" or "degree" is necessary to enter any of these three careers, know what you are obtaining for your educational dollars.  An instance of a traditional court reporting school offering a "degree" was settled out of  court for over $5 million.  That article follows:

Court reporting school to refund $5M in tuition to settle suit

Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Detroit -- A federal judge today approved a class-action lawsuit settlement that will pay about $5 million in tuition refunds to close to 1,300 students who attended the Academy of Court Reporting in Clawson.

The lawsuit, filed in 2007, alleged the postsecondary school defrauded students by promising associate degrees it was not certified to issue in Michigan.

The school, which has programs in paralegal work, court reporting and private investigation, admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay $7.8 million in cash and other benefits.

"Often in settlements, people believe they should have more, but that's the nature of a settlement," Lawson said after a fairness hearing. "A settlement is an exchange of certainty for uncertainty," and "it's a product of compromise."

Lawson awarded $2.5 million in attorney fees to the Googasian law firm of Bloomfield Hills, which took the case on a contingency basis, advanced about $170,000 in costs, and spent about 5,000 hours working on the case. The attorney fees and costs will be withdrawn from the $7.8 million fund, with the balance used to refund tuition payments.

"We are proud of the job that we've done," attorney Dean Googasian told Lawson.

There are costs and risks associated with taking the case to trial, and "we believe it is reasonable to settle the case at this time for what we believe are substantial benefits for our clients."

It's expected qualified students who attended the academy since 2000 will get refunds for about 35 percent of the tuition they paid. The settlement also offers tuition discounts of up to $2,000, transfer of credits to a degree-granting institution and tuition discounts there.

Only three former students filed objections to the settlement with the court.

Sylvia John of New Haven, who graduated from the academy in 2006 only to learn her associate degree was not valid, did not file an objection but said after the hearing she is dissatisfied with the settlement.

"I was expecting more," said John, who paid over $30,000 in tuition and has not been able to get work as a court reporter.

pegan@detnews.com (313) 222-2069


While there ARE some excellent traditional schools available, do your research before you sign on the dotted line.   A student loan or grant is worthless if you pay $25,000 to $50,000 for training and are unable to obtain employment.

Court Reporting Schools FAQ #7

HAS VOICE RECOGNITION AND VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY BEEN SUCCESSFUL?

No, it has not been successful.   Voice recognition has not been successful for realtime writing for broadcast closed captioning or realtime court reporting as evidenced by the fact national captioning companies are not employing stenomask writers with voice recognition translation capabilities.  According to some closed captioning companies as well as realtime court reporting firms, schools and programs advertising voice recognition translation are exaggerating the success of this technology as employed in real-time court reporting and  broadcast captioning. 

Successful examples of voice recognition translation in realtime court reporting and broadcast captioning are extremely rare.  Schools claiming 6-month to 1-year completion rates in voice recognition translation software are exaggerated, and we strongly advise the prospective student to check with closed captioning companies as well as court reporting firms before investing thousands of dollars and time and effort in this old-fashioned technology.  The software has been around for years, but very few people have mastered it sufficiently, even over a 20+ year period of time, to be able to offer realtime translation.  As of this writing, the National Verbatim Reporters Association has not had one realtime reporting voice recognition translation reporter pass their national realtime certification examination in six years.   About half of the states in the United States does not allow steno mask or voice recognition in their court systems.

Also, the National Court Reporters Association does not recognize voice reporters or voice recognition in their organization. 

Demonstrations by two of the best realtime voice recognition reporters in the country were only accurate up to 150 words per minute, far from the necessary 180-200  words per minute required for realtime translation certification.  Voice translation software, even with its very limited capabilities, is quite expensive and requires at least a $3,000 to $4,000 investment in the hardware alone, not including the substantial investment in the voice  translation software.  Generic computers purchased from general office supply stores like Office Depot, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc., will  not work with voice translation software, because after about one hour of voice translation, the computer will overheat and crash.  They are required to purchase specially built computers costing approximately $5,000 containing additional fans to cool the computer.

Yes, voice recognition translation software is currently used on a very limited basis when we call certain businesses prompting us to say yes, no, representative, etc.  We can even program names into our cell phone and have the numbers automatically dialed. Some doctors have been able to utilize voice translation software, because they say the same words repeatedly. That software requires the speaker to leave a split-second interval between each word, and no one speaks in that manner.   Even these limited applications of voice technology do not always work correctly.  You may often say one thing, such as Payment History,  and  you may be directed to the wrong department, like Sales, which doesn't sound even close to Payment History.  You may say Sally and have the phone dial Robert, which sounds nothing like Sally.  Certainly when we have numerous attorneys speaking at the same time, perhaps some with a foreign accent, it is impossible for realtime voice writers to designate the speakers and translate all the words accurately. 

Court Reporting Schools FAQ #9
 
Does the Court Reporting School provide an externship/internship?


An externship provides students the opportunity to sit in with a court reporter, broadcast closed captioner, or CART provider to see first hand and to apply what they have learned in their training.   This externship serves to build a network of professionals to assist students as they transition into professionals themselves.  EVERY school or program should provide an externship, also referred to as an internship. 

Court Reporting Schools FAQ #10

Does the Court Reporting School provide job placement assistance, and if so, what is their graduation rate and placement rate?


EVERY court reporting school, online program, or home study program should have job placement assistance.  Individuals to fill positions for these careers are in demand.  Every graduate should be employable.

Ask the court reporting school or college of court reporting what their graduation rate has been for the last two years based upon how many students they have enrolled, both the traditional school as well as the online program.  They are required to retain this information by their State Department of Education and the Federal Department of Education if they offer federal student loans and grants.  Be certain the statistics you obtain are based upon graduates who began training for court reporting, broadcast captioning, or CART providing who graduated in THOSE programs rather than individuals who STARTED in those programs who later transferred to and graduated from programs such as personal training, medical assisting, legal secretary, paralegal, etc.  Many of the graduates from online programs or online court reporting schools actually began their training in the traditional school setting and later transferred to the online program, so online program graduate statistics could be skewed.

You should ask court reporting schools and colleges of court reporting what their placement rate is.  If it is anything less than 100%, that should raise a red flag ... because EVERY graduate should have sufficient training (or else they shouldn't have graduated) to obtain employment.  EVERY graduate should be placed in a position for which they trained, either court reporting, broadcast captioning, or CART providing.  Excellent court reporting schools place all their graduates.  Some court reporting schools and colleges of court reporting, however, simply employ them to teach when the student is unable to pass a certification examination or cannot find employment as a court reporter, broadcast captioner, or CART provider.  Any position other than one of these three careers is not a REAL placement.  You do not want to spend $25,000 to $50,000 to train for one of these lucrative careers to find yourself earning a teacher's salary.  Be certain their placements are ALL in court reporting, broadcast captioning, and CART providing.