As of May 16, 2016, the NRA will no longer be administering NRA Basic Pistol courses as they have in the past.  From that date forward NRA BPC will only be conducted through blended learning.  Basic Pistol Course packets are no longer available to NRA instructors.

Does this mean JCAR will tell the ISP the NRA Basic Pistol training certificate will no longer satisfy the first 8 hours of the mandated 16 hours of training for the Illinois Concealed Carry course?  What is being discussed about this at the state level?

I know several NRA instructors who are also Illinois Concealed Carry instructors and they are not the least bit happy about this, myself included.

When asked, they indicated they will accept for credit

http://illinoiscarry.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=60777

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That's good to hear.  

One of the other concerns is how much time an instructor will have to spend reviewing what a student should have covered during the online distance learning phase of the course.  Someone who has experience with safe firearm handling skills won't be an issue.   Someone who is inexperienced or marginal will be a concern, because the instructor is responsible for verifying safe firearm handling skills.  

The class may turn into a full 8 hour day anyway, which will be frustrating for an experienced student who put forth the effort to properly learn the online portion of the course.

It doesn't make sense to use the new version of BP for an Illinois CCW class. The cost to the students will be higher and it will be more work for the instructor given the structure of the non-online portion.

I think a lot of instructors are currently trying to decide if they'll allow it for 8 hours prior training credit, but I've talked to exactly none that will be teaching it as part of their classes. .

Your opinion mirrors what I have been hearing from several instructors in my area.

There's been a lot of discussion over on IL Carry about this by a bunch of instructors. Sounds like it's more hassle than it's worth.

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ISP has confirmed that they accept the blended Basic Pistol. The thing is that the NRA has changed the name to Basics of pistol shooting. The name of the course that is approved on the ISP website is NRA Basic Pistol.