Driver Education

Driver Education for New Drivers                                                                     Go to Class Calendars

Community Driving School (CDS) provides students with a comprehensive driving course that teaches new drivers how to adopt safe driving habits, learn the highway traffic laws, and get valuable insights from CDS instructors who share their driving experience with their students. With school budgets continually trimming costs in driver education, CDS offers the alternative to teach your teen the proper way to drive with the Virginia DOE accredited curriculum consisting of 30 hours of live Classroom instruction and 14 hours of Behind-the-Wheel/In-Car instruction.

Community Driving School (CDS) offers driver's education program for teens to get a driver’s license. CDS works along side all education outlets, private, public, and home schools, to provide driver’s education instruction not available otherwise. CDS provides the Virginia State Driving Curriculum that consists of 30 hours of classroom work and 14 hours of road training (7 hours of actual driving and 7 hours of observation). Take Driver’s Ed at either of our driving schools located in Powhatan, Midlothian, and Goochland. The Classroom and the Behind-The-Wheel Driver Education segments are offered together or separately.

Upon successful completion of the Behind the Wheel road test, the CDS instructor will issue a 180-Day Virginia Temporary Drivers License to a new driver under 18 who meets the driving and age requirements set forth in the Virginia State Code or an Adult Waiver to a new driver 18 or older.

Driver’s Ed Classroom

To qualify for the Classroom segment, the student should be at least 15 years old. A Learner’s Permit is not a requirement for the Classroom segment. Student’s who are enrolled in the Classroom segment will receive training to prepare them for DMV’s Signs and Knowledge tests taken to get the Learner’s Permit.

Adult Driver Training

CDS offers adult driver education classes for ages 18 and up. We offer private driving lessons and tailor the instruction to include all of the driving skills that a driver must be able to demonstrate on the DMV road test.

For adults ages 18 and up CDS offers the full driver education classroom and behind the wheel. When driver education is completed, the adult will be issued a document which, when presented to DMV, will waive both the 60 permit holding period and the DMV administered Road Skills test.

VADETS Testing Center

Community Driving School (CDS) is a VADETS test center for the Driver's Education Classroom course test. Test candidates must be VADETS registered and have a valid login ID and password. Please contact us for an appointment.  This service is not for on-line driver improvement course testing.

Classroom Attendance

Driver's Ed Classroom courses are structured as 36 periods of instruction and our calendars presented below list the periods by class date.  To complete the class, all 36 periods must be completed.  Where possible, attendance discussions should be held prior to course registration.  We look for each student to have regular course attendance.  Missing class periods can complicate the road to successful course completion.   We have a cap of 4 missed periods per course.  Make up periods must be coordinated with the instructor. 

Students are required to wear a facemask during class and must be in good health.

Class sizes have been cut to allow for 3-ft social distance separation.