Characteristics and Effectiveness of the Fairfax, Virginia ASAP Driver Improvement Schools

About the report:

There are two driver improvement schools in simultaneous operation associated with the Fairfax, Virginia ASAP. One is conducted by the Northern Virginia Community College and the other by the Fairfax County Public Schools. The NVCC organized and developed a specialized alcohol curriculum prior to the establishment of the FCPS program. For this report, data from the NVCC classes are more numerous, consistent, and organized. The FCPS program is now overcoming its initial organizational and administrative difficulties. This report analyzes the data available on the effectiveness of the driver knowledge portion of the NVCC program. There was a statistically significant increase between pre-and posttest scores. All this benefit cannot be definitely ascribed to the curriculum because the pretest was reviewed by students after completion. Some unmeasurable portion can be attributed to course content and instruction. For future evaluation, analyses are proposed to be carried out in the following areas. (1) FCPS knowledge scores, (2) NVCC and FCPS attitude scores, (3) recidivism rates for NVCC and FCPS graduates, and (4) the comparative effectiveness between the NVCC and the FCPS programs.

Authors