Yes, of course there are uncertified interpreters working in schools and other settings. For one thing, it is difficult to be skilled enough to pass the test without some practice first. Also, there simply are not enough certified interpreters. RID has about 12,000 members and only 6,000 of them are certified. They have 4,000 Associate members which means the person is working as an interpreter but is not certified So yes, there are thousands of uncertified interpreters out there.
Also, I would doubt that anybody could pass the test without ANY interpreting training. The written part of the exam includes a lot about ethics and history and best practices...you cannot pass the test based ONLY on your signing skills. (For one thing, interpreting requires different skills than having a conversation in ASL does.)
There are a lot of qualified interpreters out there who are not certified. And there are some certified interpreters who are not qualified. So it goes both ways really.
