High school driver education using peer tutors, direct instruction, and precision teaching.

Four high-school students learned to drive. Two had intellectual disability. Two were neurotypical.

Older classmates tutored them. Tutors used direct instruction and precision teaching. They timed practice and charted correct answers.

All four students made fewer errors on the written test. Three passed the state exam and got their licenses.

They kept clean driving records one year later.

Powell et al. (2023) showed high-school tutors can also teach math facts. The same peer-plus-precision model works across subjects.

Kapoor et al. (2025) moved math fluency from bottom to top third using precision teaching on Zoom. The 1991 driver-ed gains line up with these newer, larger data sets.

Thompson et al. (1974) first proved fifth graders could tutor kindergarteners in arithmetic. Dykens et al. (1991) built on that idea by adding direct instruction and charts for older students.

You can train typical teens to run short, timed, charted lessons for peers with or without disabilities. The same package works for math, driver ed, or social skills. Try pairing older students as tutors, give them a script and a timer, and watch accuracy climb.