Image 1 – Williamson High School Principal Bill Butterfield. Image 2 – PennDOT Secretary Mike Carrol.
TIOGA, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), along with the Northern Tioga School District and local officials announced a new PennDOT-led pilot project at Williamson High School in Tioga that allows students to take their learner’s permit knowledge test at school instead of going to a driver’s license center.
The program is being piloted over a two-year period at Williamson High School and Cowanesque High School in the Northern Tioga School District, Tioga County.
“We’re incredibly excited about the remote knowledge testing pilot with Northern Tioga School District,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “In our more rural areas of the state, folks are used to driving longer distances, but it can be time-consuming and inconvenient. There are also fewer driver license centers in our rural areas, so out-of-the-box thinking and programs like this one can be a big time saver for aspiring young drivers and their families.”
The pilot program will be administered at school by a PennDOT-approved teacher, and students will take the knowledge test using software specially-designed for remote testing. When the student passes the test, they can bring their results to a PennDOT driver license center, along with the required documentation and completed learner’s permit application, pay the required fee, and receive their learner’s permit. If the student fails, they can retake it at school, and continue retaking it until they pass instead of making multiple trips to the driver’s license center.
“The knowledge testing program being offered online is allowing our students to access an important milestone, getting a driver’s permit, more easily,” said Northern Tioga School District Superintendent Kristopher Kaufman. “By allowing this test to be offered at their local school, students will not need to miss a day of school and families will not need to miss a day of work to travel to a DMV. Northern Tioga is grateful for this partnership with PennDOT.”
At the conclusion of the two-year pilot period, PennDOT will review results and determine if and how Remote Knowledge Testing or similar programs can be made available to other interested school districts.
