# Presentation: 197235

- 		Barry Ford
- Vermont Dept.of Education
- Driver & Traffic Safety

## Facts & Figures

**75 Public High Schools in VT**
**102 active DOE licensed teachers **
**40 full time / 62 part time**
**This may be the highest % of full time instructors per capita in the U.S.**
**VT public schools complete 6200 students under 18 years of age annually **
**Commercial schools complete  1000**
**Public school teachers own and teach at 13 of the 20 commercial schools**
**Provided free to VT residents**

## Teacher Preparation

- Relicensing
- Undergraduate
- Graduate

## D&TSE Instructor Endorsement

**DOE Licensed teacher plus 18 credits (270 hrs.)**
**Driver & Traffic Safety Education****	****12 credits**
**Zone Control (45 hours) **
**Driver Ed I (45 hours)**
**In-Vehicle Teaching Tech. (45 hours)**
**Driver ED II (45 hours)**
**Educational Psychology****	****(45 hours)   3 credits**
**Alcohol & Other Drugs (45hours)****	****  3 credits**
**Only Public School licensed teachers may teach in the High Schools**

## Maintaining Professional CompetenciesD&TSE Instructor Relicensing

**Nine continuing education credits every seven years**
**Three credits must be**
**	****	****	**** **_**driver education specific**_

## GDL Grant $$Classroom Technology

## Teacher TrainingDigital photo / Web instruction

## Skid Monster TrainingTeacher / Novice

## Mentors

- Training of Trainers
- Licensed teachers working with teacher candidates and High School students

## Student Teaching

- High School Students participate in the In-Vehicle Teaching Techniques portion of teacher preparation

## VT / NIDB Curriculum Resource Guide

- Scope & Sequence
- 	Vt Framework of Standards & Vital Results
- Electronic Format

## Curriculum Folder

- Student Assignments
- Teacher Content
- Class & In-Vehicle Concepts
- Entry & Exit Quizzes
- Student Centered Activities
- Class & In-Vehicle Assessment
- Record Sheets

## Teacher Resources

- <date/time>

**Transparency Masters****	**
**Student Classroom Activities**
**Physical Equivalent Practices****	**
**Model Roadway Exercises**
**In-Vehicle Activities**
**Preparatory activities before in-vehicle session**
**Backseat observation and participation activities**
**Behind- the- wheel activities**
**Activities to practice after in-vehicle session**

## Student Resources

- Overview - What’s Expected
- In-Vehicle Performance Set
- Supporting Content
- Student Activity
- Key Behavioral Patterns
- Definitions

## Audio Visual

- Video specific to concepts and behaviors
- Power Point lessons
- Computer enhanced graphics
- Interactive software programs

## Route Lesson PlansStudents need a system that can be formulated into long term memory for lasting internal values.  With the format of this route lesson plan teachers help students to acquire such a system.When route lesson plans are structured according to the design advocated in VT / NIDB document, the instructor is able to increase the effectiveness of teaching with less effort.  Students will more than double the long term memory of risk management behaviors gained during each in-vehicle session.  There is an initial amount of work that the instructor must expend to organize and design the route lesson plan. However, once the route lesson plans are constructed the effort needed to get successful student performance is diminished, and each session that the route lesson plan is used begins to pay more and more dividends to the teacher and student.

- <date/time>

- Route Lesson PlansStudents need a system that can be formulated into long term memory for lasting internal values.  With the format of this route lesson plan teachers help students to acquire such a system.When route lesson plans are structured according to the design advocated in VT / NIDB document, the instructor is able to increase the effectiveness of teaching with less effort.  Students will more than double the long term memory of risk management behaviors gained during each in-vehicle session.  There is an initial amount of work that the instructor must expend to organize and design the route lesson plan. However, once the route lesson plans are constructed the effort needed to get successful student performance is diminished, and each session that the route lesson plan is used begins to pay more and more dividends to the teacher and student.

## VT Driver & Traffic Safety Education

**VT Statute requires all superintendents to provide driver education to students whose parents or guardians reside in the state.**
**All persons under eighteen years of age must satisfactorily complete an approved driver education course consisting of thirty hours of classroom, six hours behind the wheel and six hours of observation.**
**In 1984, statute required all driver education courses to include a course of instruction (5 hours minimum), approved by the state board, on the effects of alcohol and other drugs on driving.**

## In-School Programs

- $ 71 Per Pupil State Reimbursement
- Same as 1966
- 87% of school cost in 1966
- 21% of actual cost in 2002

- Instruction enhanced by access to computer labs
- Special Education support staff
- Individual Education Plan support staff
- More interaction between teacher and student

## Parent Involvement

- VT Supervising Driving Guide
- Distributed by DOE to every driver education student in Vermont
- Closely follows VT /NIDB Curriculum
- Compliments GDL requirements
- Parent nights enhance the use of these materials

## Student Produced LessonsParent Involvement / Web Access

## Measuring In-car Training Effectiveness

- Models used for program effectiveness
- Passing state road test
- Developing techniques pleasing to instructor
- Instructor feels safe with student performances
- Developing tasks that should improve with practice
- Developing competencies from text/guide
- Assessment of planned outcomes

## Planning for Driver Development

- Look for defined standards or outcomes
- Develop learning sequences
- From tasks to procedures to processes to systematic habit formation
- Learning strands develop from simple to complex
- Route development
- Task introduction and demonstration
- Formative assessments
- Simple to complex activities
- Develop system for managing time and space
- Summative assessments

## VT’s Collaborative Effort

_**	**__**	**__**Gov. Highway Safety Policy Council**_
- State Police
- Sheriffs Assoc.
- Chiefs of Police Assoc.
- EMT
- ENCARE
- DMV
- VT Rider Program
- ADAP (Dept. of Health)
- Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS)
- Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program

## Partnerships

## VT Truck & Bus Assoc

## Studies

- DeKalb, Brisbane, and most recently a class study by VIT and the University of TURKU in Sweden all reveal similar trends in the effectiveness of driver education as it is presently structured.

## The Swedish Literature

- “To be a safe driver it is not enough to be able to control the vehicle well and in accordance with the traffic laws.”
- “ The content of the high school education should not focus on vehicle maneuvering and control, but more general aspects belonging to the higher level of the GDE matrix.”
- “In driver education, risk awareness methods should be used on a regular basis and as a standard procedure to gain changes in attitudes.”
- The study also found the introduction of short professional courses in exchange for a reduction of general practice periods has not proved to be beneficial for safety.

## Vermont D&TSE

- The VT / NIDB curriculum, teacher preparation, professional development and public school courses have addressed these issues.
- VDTSEA and the Vermont Dept. of Education have adopted a risk management, standards based curriculum.
- The curriculum and all related materials are structured to progress from simple to complex.
- The class activities are structured to prepare the student for in-vehicle success
-  Students are not taught based on the license exam.

## Vermont D&TSE

- Parents are provided with the knowledge to provide structured supervised practice.
- Teachers are prepared to use state of the art technical, risk management materials.
- Courses run six to nine weeks for approval.
**Summer Courses may be shorter due to increased length of the****	****regular school year **
- Many Vermont programs require 20-40 hours of parental supervised driving to pass the course.
- School programs must be in compliance with VT statute and approved annually.

## Where do we go from here?

- National Standards for Curriculum and Teachers
- Make commercial schools accountable. Public schools loose funding. Private driving schools often cut corners to increase profit.
- Increase teacher credential requirements nationally for public and commercial instructors.
- Mandate teacher professional development

- National standards for the content and delivery of driver education for both public and commercial programs.
- Increase standards for instruction time, both class and in-vehicle. Some states allow commercial schools to complete courses in one week.
- Establish a national definition of driver education.

## Where do we go from here?

- Put emphasis on a K-12 traffic safety curriculum. 15 or 16 years old is too late to change risk taking behavior.
- Make saving teen lives a national priority as opposed to simply issuing licenses.

- Make resources available to prepare and market quality programs.
- Make saving teen lives more of a priority than the financial benefit of instructors and owners.

## Traffic Crashes

- Our nation’s most serious health problem.
- A huge economic burden on society.
- Leading Cause of death for 15 – 20 year olds.
- Any other disease of lesser proportion would have millions of dollars put into research and finding a cure.
- 		It is time we as a nation devote serious attention to this problem!