| Abstract: | State coordinators from all 50 states were asked to identify eight of the highest quality driver education programs in their states. Two-hundred high schools were nominated and the principals at 110 schools agreed to participate. A district administrator, the principal, and a driver education teacher were surveyed at each school. Respondents received a survey based upon the driver education National Standards and a questionnaire asking specific questions about their programs. All instruments were returned from the respondents at 81 (74%) of the schools. From this information, eight schools were chosen as having programs which closely matched the driver education National Standards. These schools varied in size (large/small), location (urban/rural) and type of program (school-only/district-wide/community-wide). In order to study the programs more closely, an on-site visit was made to each model school. Twenty-three standards, taken from the Proceedings of the Sixth National Conference on Safety Education, were studied to determine the value and status placed on them by the respondents. Of the standards, 19 (83%) were valued higher than 3.00 (on a 4-point scale) by the respondents. Of the status indicators, 17 (74%) received scores higher than 3.00 (mostly achieved). It was concluded that the respondents strongly supported most of the standards. Range instruction was found to be valued the least by the respondents. It was concluded that range instruction may not be needed in a quality program. Simulation was found to be seldom used in small and rural schools. It is recommended that greater efforts be made to bring simulation instruction to these schools. The current 1990 National Standards were reviewed and found to have discrepancies and other problems. It is recommended that ADTSEA conduct a Seventh National Conference on Safety Education within the next 5 years to update the Standards. It was concluded that funding is a problem area in driver education and recommended that greater efforts be made to secure state funding for the course. It is recommended that further research be undertaken to determine the value of driver education. A proposed model program, based on the findings of the study, was developed. |
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