Pioneer Students Take the Wheel in New Drivers Education Course
A year later, drivers ed is offered once again for incoming sophomores during class scheduling.
By Davis Jones
A year later, drivers ed is offered once again for incoming sophomores during class scheduling.
By Davis Jones
As part of a movement by the state of California to give more students access to driver’s education resources, freshmen can now sign up for a driver’s ed course, to take as sophomores, through high schools all across the district and the state.
The course was newly available for the 2023-24 school year and is completely student-led. Students who sign up are given access to the state certified driving course, Aceable, which is a course designed for students to take their time and go at their own pace. Students have until the end of their sophomore year to complete the course and if not completed the student's access will be revoked. The course is paid for through the district so students who would normally have to pay for it don’t have to worry about that particular step.
The class is taken outside of school hours, giving students like Nick Sousa, 10, the freedom to work on it without the stress of homework deadlines or staying at school for an extra hour.
“The course being separate from Pioneer and online is definitely a lot more helpful and convenient because it means that students can do it on their own time and at their own pace rather than it being an actual class where you have to finish stuff on time. I was happy to learn that it was purely online and that’s what really motivated me to actually do it,” Sousa said.
The course being completely online and independent from Pioneer can be seen as both positive and negative in the eyes of some students like CJ Bettencourt, 10.
“On one hand it’s easy to use and welcome to use during your free time when you don’t have schedule conflicts you can use it on the go,” Bettencourt said. “But on the other hand sometimes it is hard to concentrate and sometimes my schedule gets very complicated and sometimes I don’t get home until 10-11 o'clock with the hours I have at school which can make it hard to squeeze in a lesson.”
Freshmen interested in taking the course are encouraged by staff members like their counselors and Assistant Principal of Instruction Allison Zuniga to sign up during their course selection for sophomore year and will be given access through their Infinite Campus portal during the fall.
“With our course selection process we meet with every student so when we met with last year's ninth graders who were going up to be tenth graders we made sure they all knew it was an option and what that would be like and then we encouraged them to sign up for it on their course selection form. It takes some time to sync our system with the driver’s ed system so it’s not an immediate access but they will all eventually get access,” said Zuniga. “The course is connected to Infinite Campus, providing login instructions on the Pioneer website which are also sent out to parents when they request information. Students have to login on their own, take the course on their own, complete it on their own. We have no additional follow up on our end. We’re basically the first step you take in getting access to the program.”
The course serves as a great accessible way for students who want to start their driver's education, but don’t have access to an outside class without any cost and with the freedom to go at their own pace.
“The course has been really helpful because not only did it obviously help me out with learning how to drive but it was also really easy to follow along and learn. I would definitely recommend the course to anyone who has the opportunity to take it because it’s really helpful if you want to drive,” Sousa said.
The course was newly available for the 2023-24 school year and is completely student-led. Students who sign up are given access to the state certified driving course, Aceable, which is a course designed for students to take their time and go at their own pace. Students have until the end of their sophomore year to complete the course and if not completed the student's access will be revoked. The course is paid for through the district so students who would normally have to pay for it don’t have to worry about that particular step.
The class is taken outside of school hours, giving students like Nick Sousa, 10, the freedom to work on it without the stress of homework deadlines or staying at school for an extra hour.
“The course being separate from Pioneer and online is definitely a lot more helpful and convenient because it means that students can do it on their own time and at their own pace rather than it being an actual class where you have to finish stuff on time. I was happy to learn that it was purely online and that’s what really motivated me to actually do it,” Sousa said.
The course being completely online and independent from Pioneer can be seen as both positive and negative in the eyes of some students like CJ Bettencourt, 10.
“On one hand it’s easy to use and welcome to use during your free time when you don’t have schedule conflicts you can use it on the go,” Bettencourt said. “But on the other hand sometimes it is hard to concentrate and sometimes my schedule gets very complicated and sometimes I don’t get home until 10-11 o'clock with the hours I have at school which can make it hard to squeeze in a lesson.”
Freshmen interested in taking the course are encouraged by staff members like their counselors and Assistant Principal of Instruction Allison Zuniga to sign up during their course selection for sophomore year and will be given access through their Infinite Campus portal during the fall.
“With our course selection process we meet with every student so when we met with last year's ninth graders who were going up to be tenth graders we made sure they all knew it was an option and what that would be like and then we encouraged them to sign up for it on their course selection form. It takes some time to sync our system with the driver’s ed system so it’s not an immediate access but they will all eventually get access,” said Zuniga. “The course is connected to Infinite Campus, providing login instructions on the Pioneer website which are also sent out to parents when they request information. Students have to login on their own, take the course on their own, complete it on their own. We have no additional follow up on our end. We’re basically the first step you take in getting access to the program.”
The course serves as a great accessible way for students who want to start their driver's education, but don’t have access to an outside class without any cost and with the freedom to go at their own pace.
“The course has been really helpful because not only did it obviously help me out with learning how to drive but it was also really easy to follow along and learn. I would definitely recommend the course to anyone who has the opportunity to take it because it’s really helpful if you want to drive,” Sousa said.