It’s that time of year again, folks: summer. Where teens everywhere in Texas are getting out of school and will soon be on their way to an awesome summer vacation. For some, they’ll even be taking steps toward getting their driver’s license! This means that you, their parents, are on the lookout for a driver’s ed school for them to learn all the necessary skills they need to be as safe as possible while out on the road.
While taking time out to take them to a school and wait for them to get out may be an option for some of you, it’s not always the most convenient or easy option for many other parents. After all, you still have to work during the summer, and taking your teenager everywhere they want or need to go isn’t always the most ideal way to spend your days off.
Want The Fast Answer? This Is The Best Online Driver’s Ed Course In Texas
This is where Texas online driver’s ed comes in. There are several different options when it comes to getting a good driver’s education, but not all of them are going to be good ones; as with anything online, you have to weed your way through scam sites, and just plain old low-quality sites. Or rather, you would, if we weren’t here to help!
As far as Texas online driver’s ed goes, I have one recommendation for you, and one only. Not because there aren’t other good sites to choose from, but because this one is one of the best courses around, and because we also offer a coupon for them, it won’t burn a hole in your pocket, either.
I Drive Safely
I Drive Safely has been teaching new drivers the ropes for over a decade, and their courses are approved by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TLDR). On top of that, they are marketed as the “best online driver’s education money can buy,” and their reputation certainly seems to speak to that. Because the course is 100% online, the student can take the course at a pace that’s comfortable for them, both on the go and within the comfort of their own home.
How Does It Work?
I Drive Safely offers two options to new driver’s taking this course: The Block method, and the Concurrent method. With the Block method, the student must take the entirety of their 32-hour driver’s education course before moving on to their behind-the-wheel training. You’ll sign them up for the course, they’ll complete it, and their certificate of completion will be mailed to you. Once the student receives that certificate, they can take it with them to your local DPS office, where they’ll take their learner’s permit exam and vision test.
With the Concurrent method, rather than having to take the entire course before moving on, they can begin behind-the-wheel training a little earlier. Once they finish the first two chapters of the course, they will then receive a Texas driver certificate to take with them to the DPS office, where they will take their learner’s permit exam and vision test. They can then begin clocking the necessary driving hours with a licensed driving school that is paired with the I Drive Safely program. Once they’ve finished the hours needed, they will then need to complete the remainder of the online driver’s ed program.
Each method can be broken down into sections if needed, and the student can save their progress and come back to it later if needed. While you do have to take the full 32-hour course, it can be done overtime to make sure they don’t take on too much information at one time, and each section is completed with small quizzes to make sure they’ve retained what they’ve learned before moving on.
How Is It Graded?
For both courses, the student will be graded by their scores on their quizzes at the end of each section, and by their drive plan assignments, of which there are 23 in total. They must make a score of at least 70% on each quiz in order to move on to the next section, but don’t worry; if for some reason they make a lower score, they can review the information again and retake the quiz until they pass. The same goes for the drive plan assignments; these will be reviewed by your online instructor and can be resubmitted until each gets a passing grade. There is no final exam for this course; once you pass, you simply move on to the next step of getting your driver’s license!
Parent-Taught Driver’s Education
One unique and cool thing that I Drive Safely offers is a parent-taught driver’s education course. This is taken online as well and combines the standard online driver’s ed course with parental guidance and supervision. Essentially, this course certifies you, the parent or guardian, to be the student’s behind-the-wheel driving instructor, to further personalize the driver’s education experience, and let them learn more comfortably with someone they are familiar with. There are few things you have to do in order to sign up for this course:
First, you’ll want to register yourself as the instructor for the program. You’ll fill out the form, send it to the Texas Department of Public Safety, and wait a week or two for your instructor’s packet to come in. Once they’ve completed the first six hours of the course, you will get a six-hour permit qualification certificate that you can take to the DPS office, where the student will take their permit exam and vision test. After that, you’ll be able to act as the instructor as your teen completes the necessary hours of drive-time, and then they’ll complete the rest of their online driver’s ed course. There is a final exam for this one, but once they’ve passed, they’ll finally be able to get their Texas driver’s license!
Alternatives
Now, if you think iDriveSafely is not the school for you, there are other online driver’s ed providers in Texas that you can choose instead. However, be extra careful in choosing your provider as not every school will be able to provide the same quality of education as iDriveSafely.
To help you narrow down your choices to include only the best driver’s ed course providers in Texas, here’s a list that we were able to come up with after extensive research. Feel free to choose one of them.
#1. Aceable
If you are into the ultramodern type of learning experience, go with Aceable, the newbie in the industry. They have, so far, the highest customer rating in Trustpilot amongst the more popular driver’s ed course providers with 4.9/5 excellent ratings (based on 32,143 reviews). Pretty impressive, right? Well, with their extremely user-friendly app that makes learning and watching videos on your mobile device a thousand times more convenient than any other course there is, this is not a surprise. To see how their course works, click here.
#2 DriversEd.com
Well, DriversEd has merged with iDriveSafely in 2015 to form eDriving, making them the most widely available driver’s ed course in the US. If iDriveSafely’s course is not available in your State, it is probably offered by DriversEd, so it’s only natural to go with this school instead. To give you an idea, they updated their animations and graphics recently, so you’ll get a more modern feel when you register for their course. They’re also doing well when it comes to customer ratings with 4.6/5 stars in Trustpilot out of 8,467 reviews. If you want to try their course first before you commit, you can take the first 20% of the course for free. If you want to learn more about their course, here’s a more detailed review for DriversEd.
We’ve provided a much more detailed review here.
#3. DriverEdToGo
You can also try out DriverEdToGo if you want to go for a more affordable option. This school has been around for more than a decade already, so you’ll have no issues with the school’s reputation whatsoever. There might be some issues when it comes to how recently they have updated their course materials, such as their graphics and animations, and their user interface may not be as friendly as those earlier mentioned. But if you are to rely on their A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, then you don’t have to worry about the course not living up to business’ quality standards. Here’s the link to our comprehensive DriverEdToGo if you want to learn more about them.