History of NAETISL

In 2018, a group of language access advocates, educators, interpreters, translators, and multilingual families worked collectively to take the initial steps and establish an organization to highlight the essential role of interpreters and translators in early childhood and K-12 settings. These Founding Members brought their own experiences as child interpreters, school-based interpreters, freelancers, monolingual educators, and families of children in gifted and special education to the table to discuss how “we can do better” in terms of language access and communication equity.

Today, our national and international members continue to unify efforts to create resources, enhance multilingual family engagement, and understand the impact of qualified and trained interpreters and translators in education.