PPT Slide
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) carried out research to assess the impact of driver education on driving safety and competence, and to compare the effectiveness of driver training for female and male students. The standard MTO driver certification exam, which includes both written and performance components, was administered to the following groups of students at Cloverleaf Secondary School, a large, fictitiously named high school in Toronto: two experimental groups (50 female, 50 male) randomly selected from those students who had opted not to take the Cloverleaf driver training course. The certification exam was administered to all groups at the end of the 6-week driver training course by the instructor who had taught the course. A total of 84 students (37 female, 47 male) in the experimental condition completed both the training program and the certification exam, whereas 98 of 100 students in the control condition (49 female, 49 male) completed the exam. The remaining students either dropped out of the course or failed to take the certification exam. Analysis of data indicated significant main effects of both independent variables, as well as significant interaction effect. Specifically, the mean certification exam score was significantly higher for the experimental condition than for the control condition, was significantly higher for female than for male students; and the difference favoring the experimental condition was larger for female students than for male students. MTO officials concluded that driver training is effective in improving driver safety and competence, especially for females.