4.2 The 10-Unit MVA Classroom Curriculum

Curriculum Structure

The Maryland Driver Education Classroom and In-Car Curriculum guide "is divided into ten units of classroom instruction and six one hour units of in-car instruction." Each classroom unit is three hours long, designed to follow sequentially, and built to support the Rookie Driver / New Driver and Coach Practice Guide (RD-006) that families use to log supervised practice hours.

The current revision process began in 2015 and drew on the Maryland Highway Safety Office, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, ADTSEA, NHTSA, and MDOT/MVA senior management. Two structural changes matter to instructors: the unit order was rearranged to mirror the order of the practice guide, and all textbooks were replaced with a Student Workbook.

The emphasis also shifted. Earlier versions focused on acquiring basic factual knowledge; the revised curriculum "focuses on how and why drivers do the things they do," with heavier stress on the three behaviors NHTSA identifies as the greatest problems for new drivers: put away electronics, put on safety belts, and avoid speeding.

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The Ten Classroom Units

Performance objectives worth memorizing

• Unit 1 — students describe the stages and appropriate restrictions of the GLS; define the roles of the driving school, new driver, and parent/mentor; describe any law changes since their coaches took driver education; and list statistics defining the risks for new drivers.
• Unit 2 — students define the Highway Transportation System and evaluate its impact on safe driving; describe the function of signs, signals, and lane markings; evaluate how traffic control devices affect safety, right of way, and risk; and describe the laws for sharing the road safely with emergency vehicles, school buses, pedestrians, motorcycles, and bicycles.
• Unit 3 — students locate and describe vehicle equipment by category (safety, comfort, warning) using the owner's manual when necessary, and list the steps to safely enter and exit an off-street parking space using pre-entry checklists and S.E.E.
• Unit 4 — students list the steps to turn the vehicle on and off safely and evaluate why each step matters; describe moving forward and in reverse; describe maintaining speed and controlling acceleration and deceleration; and describe stopping the vehicle.
• Unit 5 — legal right and left turns, managing vehicle space, S.E.E., the inherent risks of residential areas, the effect of distraction on those risks, and the other road users typically found there.
• Unit 8 — identifying adverse conditions and the appropriate measures for each; evaluating the risks in various adverse weather conditions; examining the role speed plays in collisions; and listing the driver's responsibilities in a collision and the consequences of failing to meet them.
• Unit 9 — describing personal factors such as distraction, fatigue, emotions, drugs, and alcohol; evaluating their impact; describing the legal and administrative penalties associated with impaired driving; and developing strategies to avoid impaired or distracted driving.

Two anchors run through nearly every unit: S.E.E. (Search, Evaluate, Execute) and the standing reminder to put away distractions, wear the safety belt, and obey the speed limit.

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The Materials Package

Worksheets may be completed individually, in small groups, or as a whole class; the questions are designed to check comprehension and to open a deeper discussion.

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Attendance Rules Built into the Curriculum

Unit 1 ......... cannot be missed and made up later
Units 2-10 ..... if missed, the student must make up THAT specific session
> 12 hours ..... student must retake ALL classroom instruction, starting with Unit 1
Coaches ........ must be invited and strongly encouraged to attend Unit 1

The Unit 1 rule exists because Unit 1 is where the GLS, the practice-guide system, and the roles of school, driver, and coach are established, and where parents are brought into the program. It also aligns with COMAR 11.23.02.08A(4), which requires an Administration-approved parent orientation at the start of each driver education program course.

The 12-hour threshold aligns with COMAR 11.23.02.36B and D(2): a student may miss 12 hours or less and continue the course, but a student who misses more than 12 hours of classroom instruction may not continue.

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The Final Examination

There are three versions of the final examination, each with 50 questions, plus a student answer sheet and instructor answer keys. Schools are "strongly encouraged to use a mix of tests for each class, to discourage students from sharing answers during the test." The review for the final is at the end of Unit 9, and Unit 10 provides the time to complete the final and any additional paperwork.

Under COMAR 11.23.02.08C(4) only tests included in the approved program course curriculum may be administered — a school may not substitute its own final.

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Instruction in Other Languages

To teach the MVA-approved curriculum in Spanish, a school must employ an instructor who is approved to teach in Spanish, and only that instructor may conduct the classes. If that instructor leaves the school, the school may no longer teach the curriculum in Spanish until another instructor is approved.

For any language other than English or Spanish, the school must request and receive written approval from the Administration for each specific language before instruction is given. The school is responsible for ensuring all instructional materials are translated accurately and completely, all classes are taught in only one language, and the instructor and all students in that class are fluent in that language. COMAR 11.23.02.08C(1)-(3) states the same rules in regulatory form.