Test Administration, Local Test Administrators (LTAs), Scheduling, Accommodations & Retakes

Test Administration, Local Test Administrators (LTAs), Scheduling, Accommodations & Retakes

Quick Answer: Both EIPA tests are administered by EIPA-approved local test administrators (LTAs) at approved sites, in four quarterly testing sessions each year. Registration opens roughly two weeks before each session (December 15, March 15, June 15, September 15) and closes five full days before the test date and time — which is also the deadline to withdraw. Cancellations made by that deadline are refunded minus a $40 processing fee; no-shows and late cancellations forfeit the fee. Since April 29, 2024, a candidate retaking the Performance Test must wait one calendar year (365 days) from their most recent test date; there is no waiting period for the Written Test. Accommodation requests go to the EIPA Diagnostic Center before registering — LTAs may not approve them.

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1. The Role and Mandate of Local Test Administrators (LTAs)

The standardized consistency of both EIPA tests depends on local test administrators, also referred to as proctors for the Written Test. LTAs are pre-approved by the EIPA Diagnostic Center and operate test sites at school districts, state education agencies, universities, and regional service centers.

An important structural fact that candidates misread constantly: LTAs are pre-approved by the EIPA Diagnostic Center but are not employed by, and receive no compensation from, EIPA or Boys Town National Research Hospital. That is precisely why they are permitted to charge their own proctor or administrator fee on top of the test fee, and why fee practices vary from site to site.

LTA Core Responsibilities

• Manual compliance: LTAs must administer the test exactly as described in the Proctor Manual (Written) or LTA Manual (Performance). Boys Town's stated rationale is that valid, fair, reliable results require identical, consistent, standard administration at every site.
• Security of materials: LTAs maintain the security of test content, login credentials, and passwords, and protect candidate privacy. For the Performance Test, the test kit must be kept in locked storage when not in use, with access limited to approved LTAs.
• Mock testing (Written): Proctors must conduct a mock test 3 to 5 days before the test date on every computer that will be used. If the test site is not in the proctor's town, site IT staff may perform the mock test.
• Time management: On test day the LTA arrives early to set up and allot enough time. The maximum time allowed for the Written Test is 4 hours, although most candidates finish in about 2.5 hours; the Performance Test averages about 2.5 hours from the candidate's arrival.
• Strict boundaries: LTAs do not evaluate candidate performance, provide linguistic feedback, clarify signs, or coach candidates.

[!NOTE] You are not required to test in your home state. Boys Town states the test is standardized and can be taken at any test site; if no tests are available in your state, you may register at the nearest location. Some listings are marked RESTRICTED TEST, meaning the site is reserved for a specific group, and others are marked ADDITIONAL PROCTOR FEES.

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2. Annual Administration Cycles: Four Quarterly Testing Sessions

Both the Written and Performance tests are offered in four quarterly testing sessions per year. Registration opens approximately two weeks before each session begins:

Two hard cutoffs govern every registration:

1. Registration closes five full days before the test date and time (to the hour).
2. That same moment is the deadline to withdraw from a reserved test slot.

Immediately after registering, a confirmation email is sent; the test administrator also emails additional site-specific information before the test date. Read both — site instructions vary.

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3. How Results Are Actually Released

This is where candidate expectations and reality diverge most sharply, so be precise:

• Written Test: Candidates are informed whether they passed or failed at the test site, on test day. The result is pass/fail only; a score of 75% or above is required to pass.
• Performance Test: Recordings are sent to the EIPA Diagnostic Center for evaluation, and turnaround has been a documented, long-running pain point. Boys Town responded in July 2024 by publishing the receipt date of the tests currently being evaluated at the top of its announcements page, updated weekly on Mondays, so candidates can see their position in the queue. It has since hired additional raters, added an EIPA Scientist to oversee test development, and announced electronic results in August 2026.

Do not build an employment timeline on a promised number of days for Performance results. Check the posted current test processing date against your own test date, and plan for a multi-month gap.

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4. Site and Equipment Requirements

Boys Town publishes distinct requirements for the two tests, and confusing them is a common error.

Written Test site requirements

• A quiet, interruption-free room.
• PC or Mac computers only. Chromebooks, iPads, and tablets are incompatible with the testing software and are not allowed. The number of test seats offered equals the number of usable computers, so some sites offer a single seat.
• Test computers must be on a secured, private, password-protected network — no exceptions. Most sites have both a public and a private Wi-Fi network; only the private one may be used, because a secure network reduces the chance of unauthorized users viewing the test computer's desktop.
• A secure player must be installed on every test computer. It disables printing, copying exam material, accessing stored files, and viewing internet content during testing.
• A mock test 3 to 5 days before the test on each computer to be used.

Performance Test site requirements

• The testing room must be private, uncluttered, and distraction free, with bright lighting for recording quality.
• The wall used as the background must be uncluttered and a solid color. A large solid-colored cloth may be hung behind the candidate if needed.
• A camcorder or video camera is required to record the candidate. Phones may not be used to record the test.
• A computer with a USB port and an HDMI port (VGA is acceptable if HDMI is unavailable), Adobe Acrobat Reader DC for the electronic paperwork, and a large monitor to display the test videos.
• The test kit must be kept in locked storage when not in use.

What this means for you as a candidate

Your job on test day is to verify the environment before recording starts, because an unusable recording is your problem, not the evaluator's. Confirm that the background wall is solid and uncluttered, that lighting is bright and in front of you rather than behind you, that the camera frames your full signing space without cropping your hands, and that room noise will not drown out your voicing during the receptive sample.

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5. Candidate Accommodations

Boys Town's accommodation process is procedural and unforgiving about timing:

• Submit before registering. Interpreters requesting test accommodations must submit required documentation to the EIPA Diagnostic Center before registering for a test.
• Only the Diagnostic Center may approve. Test administrators may not approve accommodation requests.
• Form of the request: written, on official letterhead, and it must include:
  1. formal documentation from a qualified or licensed professional who has conducted testing or provided treatment for the disability or diagnosis;
  2. a statement of the specific disability or diagnosis;
  3. a description of the disability and why accommodations are needed;
  4. the tests or protocols used to confirm the diagnosis;
  5. a description of the test accommodations prescribed for the disability;
  6. the professional's signature, title, and contact information.

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6. Cancellation, Withdrawal, and Refunds

• The five-day / 120-hour rule: Payment is refundable minus a $40.00 processing fee, provided the cancellation is completed five full days (120 hours) from the test date and time.
• How to cancel: All cancellations must be completed by logging into your account on the Boys Town Learning Center. Notifying your test administrator is appreciated but does not count as a cancellation.
• No refunds are issued for no-shows or for cancellations received after test registration has closed — and registration closes five days before the test date and time.

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7. Retake Policy

The retake rule changed materially in 2024 and is one of the most commonly mis-stated EIPA facts in circulation.

• Performance Test: As of April 29, 2024, a candidate retaking the EIPA Performance Test must wait one calendar year (365 days) from the date of their most recent exam. When registering, the new date must be at least 365 days after the most recent test date. A registration made less than 365 days after a previous test date will be cancelled, and the cancellation policy and associated fees apply.
• Written Test: There is no waiting period.
• Documented exception: Interpreters who are currently employed and working on a provisional license that will expire within the next six months may apply to test six months after the date of their last test, by contacting the EIPA team directly.

Boys Town's stated rationale is empirical rather than administrative: its intra-test/retest data indicates that measurable score improvement occurs when a 12-month wait is combined with an investment in mentorship. Treat the year as the development window it is designed to be.

Turning the Score Report Into a Plan

The diagnostic report exists to be used. Because the composite is an average of 38 sub-skill ratings across four assessment areas, you can identify exactly which items dragged the average down — fingerspelling production, decalage, comparison/contrast structures, spoken English word selection — and build a professional development plan against those named items rather than against a vague instruction to "practice more."

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8. Realistic Scenarios

Scenario A: The Registration That Gets Cancelled

An interpreter tests on the Performance assessment on March 4 and scores 3.2. Her district tells her to "test again in the fall." She registers for an October session — seven months later.

• Policy reality: The registration is less than 365 days after her previous test date, so it will be cancelled, and the cancellation policy and fees apply. Unless she is on a provisional license expiring within six months and has contacted the EIPA team for an exception, her earliest eligible test date is the following March. The productive response is to spend the mandated year in mentorship targeting her lowest-rated items.

Scenario B: The Environment Problem Caught in Time

A candidate arrives to find the chair positioned in front of a bulletin board covered with student artwork, beneath a loud air-conditioning unit, with morning sun streaming through an unshaded window behind the chair.

• Protocol action: The candidate raises it with the LTA before recording. The background must be uncluttered and a solid color — a solid-colored cloth may be hung if needed — the room must be brightly lit for recording quality, and backlighting will silhouette facial expression and handshapes. Fixing the setup before recording is the only remedy; there is no post-hoc appeal for an unusable recording.

Scenario C: The Accommodation Requested Too Late

A candidate with a documented disability registers for a test and then emails the LTA the week before, asking for an accommodation.

• Policy reality: The request is doubly out of order. Documentation must be submitted to the EIPA Diagnostic Center before registering, and the LTA has no authority to approve accommodations under any circumstances.

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9. Exam Traps and Administrative Vulnerabilities

• Trap 1: Requesting accommodations from the LTA, or after registering. Both fail. The request goes to the EIPA Diagnostic Center, in writing on official letterhead, before registration.
• Trap 2: Assuming a 24- or 48-hour cancellation window. EIPA requires five full days (120 hours) and keeps a $40 processing fee even when you cancel on time.
• Trap 3: Assuming the retake rule is a recommendation. The 365-day Performance Test wait is enforced at registration — a non-compliant registration is cancelled, with fees applied. Only the Written Test has no waiting period.
• Trap 4: Assuming you must test in your home state, or must take both tests in a set order. Neither is true. The test is standardized across sites, there is no required sequence between Written and Performance, and an interpreter is not required to take both.
• Trap 5: Letting the camera crop your signing space. If your hands leave the frame, the evaluators cannot rate what they cannot see.