Program Information

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and a team of experts at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, are working together to develop a modular online training program for people who would like to be designated as "qualified IEP interpreters". This program is a blend of synchronous and asynchronous online training and testing sessions, consisting of these three (3) modules:

1. Language Proficiency Testing (in English and the target language)
2. Special Education Terminology and Practices Training and Testing (6 hours)
3. Interpreting Training and Testing (at least 9 hours)

Read more about ISBE's requirements for trainees and the training program requirements.

Cost of Training

Participation in the TQII Program is free of charge. The only requirement on the part of trainees is that they will need a reliable high-speed internet connection.

Demonstration of Language Proficiency

Please refer to the "Demonstration of Language Proficiency" tab.

Launch Date of Training Modules

Full launch of all modules was launched in the Spring of 2024. The language proficiency testing will launch in the Spring of 2025, with the first available language being Spanish. 

Languages

There are approximately 166 languages other than English spoken by children (and their parents) in Illinois school districts. ISBE has tasked our team to begin with the five most-commonly spoken languages other than English: Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Urdu and Russian. It is planned that all five of these languages will come online as part of the training program in the first five years. It is our hope that after these first five years, we will be able to add more languages at a faster pace, provided that funding from the state continues to be available.