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1.2 Qualifications, Background Checks, and Application

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Maryland Driving Instructor Study Guide Exam

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1 Chapter 1: Maryland Driving Instructor Credentials

1.1 Two Credentials: Instructor License vs. Instructor Certification 1.2 Qualifications, Background Checks, and Application 1.3 The Apprentice Instructor Permit and Supervised Training 1.4 MVA Testing and Required Instructor Courses 1.5 Badges, Renewal, Professional Development, and Discipline

2 Chapter 2: Driving Schools, Certified Schools, and Facilities

2.1 Drivers' School Licensing and Operational Requirements 2.2 Driver Education School Certification and Operating Rules 2.3 Business Office and Classroom Facility Requirements 2.4 Training Vehicle and Dual-Control Equipment Requirements

3 Chapter 3: Program Administration, Records, and Enforcement

3.1 Student Enrollment, Rights and Responsibilities, and Refunds 3.2 Records, Reports, and Completion Certification 3.3 Quality Control, Violations, and Progressive Discipline

4 Chapter 4: Delivering the Maryland Driver Education Program

4.1 The 30/6 Program Structure and Classroom Operation Rules 4.2 The 10-Unit MVA Classroom Curriculum 4.3 Behind-the-Wheel Instruction Requirements 4.4 Student Performance Criteria, Testing, and Remediation

5 Chapter 5: Instructional Methodology and In-Car Technique

5.1 Classroom Teaching Methods and Adolescent Driver Psychology 5.2 Dual-Control Mechanics, Instructor Interventions, and In-Car Safety 5.3 Progressive In-Car Instructional Sequence and Skill Milestones 5.4 In-Car Coaching, Commentary Driving, and Emergency Management

6 Chapter 6: Maryland Vehicle Law and the Rookie Driver System

6.1 The Learner's Instructional Permit 6.2 The Provisional License and the Full Driver's License 6.3 The Maryland Point System, Sanctions, and Hearings 6.4 Impaired Driving, Implied Consent, and Noah’s Law

7 Chapter 7: Traffic Control Devices and Maryland Rules of the Road

7.1 Maryland Road Signs, Signals, and Pavement Markings 7.2 Right-of-Way Rules and Intersection Management 7.3 Speed Regulations, Passing Rules, and Special Roadway Scenarios

8 Chapter 8: Defensive Driving Systems, Adverse Conditions, and Hazard Management

8.1 Space Management Systems (SIPDE and SEE) and Visual Search 8.2 Adverse Environmental Conditions and Emergency Maneuvers 8.3 Sharing the Road with Vulnerable Users and Commercial Vehicles 8.4 Post-Licensing Risk Factors and Lifelong Safe Driving Habits

1.2 Qualifications, Background Checks, and Application

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

COMAR 11.23.01.13A(4) allows an applicant no more than four active points on the current driving record — the threshold is four, not three.

The criminal-history lookback for controlled dangerous substances, alcohol or drugs while driving, and felonies committed while driving is 3 years under COMAR 11.23.01.13A(5)(e).

Applicants must be 21 or older and hold a high school certificate of graduation, its equivalent, or a college degree (COMAR 11.23.01.13A(1)-(2)).

Transportation Article, §15-804 requires fingerprinting and a State and national criminal background check through the CJIS Central Repository (COMAR 11.23.01.14A).

COMAR 11.23.01.14F lets an otherwise-qualified applicant begin instructing while the criminal history is pending, but only under the direct supervision of a licensed instructor with a minimum of 2 years teaching experience.

Last updated: September 2026

  • The Eligibility Checklist (COMAR 11.23.01.13)
  • Every requirement below must be satisfied before the application is submitted. COMAR
  • 11.23.01.13B is explicit: "An individual applying for an instructor license shall meet all the
  • requirements for licensure before submitting an application to the Administration." There is no

conditional or provisional filing.

  • Requirement Regulatory threshold Citation
  • Minimum age 21 years old or older .13A(1)
  • Education High school certificate of graduation, its equivalent, or a college degree .13A(2)

Driver's license Valid Maryland or other-state license for the class of vehicle in which instruction is to be given .13A(3)

License restrictions None , except corrective lenses or a Transportation Article, §16-203 child-support restriction .13A(3)(a)-(b)

  • Active points Not more than four .13A(4)
  • Medical No reportable medical condition .13A(7)

Pending matters No outstanding criminal complaint or charge that would be grounds for refusal, cancellation, suspension, or revocation .13A(8)

The four-point rule — memorize the number

The regulation says "may not have more than four active points on their current driving record." Four points is therefore still qualifying; five is not. The same four-point ceiling reappears three

more times:

COMAR 11.23.01.16D(3) — a licensed instructor must continue to have no more than four active

points.

COMAR 11.23.01.19D(11) — "providing instruction with more than four active points on the

instructor's current driving record" is a most serious violation .

COMAR 11.23.02.16B(4) and .18E(2) — the identical ceiling applies to instructor

certification.

Widely circulated prep material states a three-point limit. It is wrong, and it is exactly the kind

of near-miss distractor an item writer builds a question around.

Criminal History Disqualifiers (COMAR 11.23.01.13A(5))

An applicant may not have a pending charge or criminal conviction for:

  • Fraud in the operation of providing instruction;
  • A crime of moral turpitude;
  • A sex offense;
  • Contributing to the delinquency of a minor; or

Any offense within the last 3 years involving:

  • a controlled dangerous substance;
  • alcohol or drugs while operating a motor vehicle; or

a felony while operating a motor vehicle.

  • Note the structure carefully. The first four categories have no lookback window at all — a
  • pending charge or conviction is disqualifying regardless of age. Only the fifth category carries a

time limit, and that limit is 3 years , not five and not ten.

  • Two-part trap
  • Items often combine an untimed category with a timed one. "A 2009 conviction for contributing to
  • the delinquency of a minor" is still disqualifying because that category has no lookback. "A
  • four-year-old possession-of-CDS conviction" is outside the 3-year window in .13A(5)(e)(i) and does

not disqualify under that paragraph.

  • Fingerprints and the Background Check (COMAR 11.23.01.14)
  • Under Transportation Article, §15-804 , an applicant for a driving instructor license or for

renewal of one must be fingerprinted and undergo a State and national criminal background check conducted by the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) Central Repository of the Department

of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

The applicant shall:

  • Be fingerprinted at an official site providing electronic digital fingerprinting — either an
  • official CJIS Central Repository site or a CJIS-approved private provider;
  • Pay the required fee, including the fee authorized under Criminal Procedure Article,
  • §10-221(b), for access to criminal history records; and
  • Obtain a dated official receipt verifying that fingerprinting has been completed and a

background check requested.

  • Information the MVA receives from CJIS is confidential, may not be disseminated, and may be used
  • only to determine eligibility or disqualification (§D). An applicant may contest the contents of the

CJIS statement under Criminal Procedure Article, §10-223 (§E).

  • The supervised-start provision (§F)
  • This is heavily tested. An applicant otherwise qualified for an instructor license may begin

providing instruction:

  • (1) pending receipt of satisfactory criminal-history data, and
  • (2) only while under the direct supervision of a licensed instructor with a minimum of

2 years teaching experience.

The two-year mentor standard recurs in the apprentice-permit rules at COMAR 11.23.02.24C(1)(a).

Learn it once and it answers questions in both chapters.

  • The Application Packet (COMAR 11.23.01.15)
  • The licensed school — not the candidate — bears the duty to ensure that a prospective
  • instructor's application is complete (§A). The application is submitted to the Administration

accompanied by:

  • The license fee set forth in COMAR 11.11.05 (the MVA publishes the driving instructor license fee,
  • initial or renewal, as $150 );
  • Documentation of successful completion of the required training and certification to teach the
  • courses;
  • A copy of the applicant's high school certificate, its equivalent, or college degree;
  • A dated official receipt verifying fingerprinting and a requested background check;
  • A copy of the applicant's driving record for the past 3 years issued by the licensing
  • authority of the applicant's state of licensure;
  • Certification by the applicant that there are no reportable medical conditions; and
  • A statement certifying under penalty of perjury whether the applicant has ever had a drivers'

school instructor license or school certification revoked in Maryland or any other state.

Two points of precision. The driving record submitted is a 3-year record. And item 6 is a self-certification by the applicant — COMAR 11.23.01 does not require a physician's examination,

  • a vision-acuity measurement, or a Department of Transportation medical card for a driving instructor
  • license. Prep material that specifies "20/40 acuity and a 110-degree field on Form MVA-DISD-101" is

describing a form and a standard that the regulation does not contain.