'No Pass, No Drive' Laws: Popular But Not Proven

High school senior Clynt Goins watches a documentary in his English class at McMinn County High School. He took and passed two summer school classes in order to get his suspended driver's license back.

—Shawn Poynter for Education Week

By Mary Ann Zehr

Over the past two decades or so, a majority of states have implemented policies that link teenagers’ driver’s licenses to school attendance, academic performance, or behavior, but those requirements aren’t backed by solid research evidence.

Experts trace the start of the trend to 1988, when West Virginia enacted a law linking driving privileges for teenagers under 18 to school attendance. It has evolved in recent years so that some states now include good academic standing as a criterion for getting or keeping a license as well, according to Kathy Christie, the chief of staff for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States, which tracks such policies . Twenty-seven states now have what Ms. Christie informally calls “no-pass, no-drive” sanctions aimed at encouraging students to stay in school, behave well, and study.