More than 500 students earn drivers licenses through FWPS program

With the passage of House Bill 1635 in 2012, drivers education programs were given the ability to administer both the knowledge and skills tests on site.

From staff reports:

With the passage of House Bill 1635 in 2012, drivers education programs were given the ability to administer both the knowledge and skills tests on site.

Federal Way Public Schools (FWPS) jumped at the opportunity to provide these tests to students. According to FWPS, more than 500 students have received their drivers licenses through FWPS programs because of the change in the law.

“The convenience of doing everything at each high school and using our traffic safety cars to test in has our district providing a service never seen before,” said Mike Grady, FWPS traffic safety coordinator. “Basically our students, upon competing drivers education, take the DOL written test the last day of class and then schedule their skills test with my office to get their license.”

FWPS has also benefited from the new arrangement because it allows for an easy measuring stick to see the drivers education program’s effectiveness.

“Our teachers not only teach them the skills to drive, but now test them to make sure we are doing a good job,” Grady added. “With this testing, it has given us a very good idea on what we need to work on as instructors to improve our curriculum and do a better job for our students. It’s a win-win for our students, parents and instructors.”

To learn more about the traffic safety education program at FWPS, visit www.fwps.org/dept/traffic.