Illinois · Teen Driver Education
Illinois Drivers Ed for Teens
In Illinois, students up to the age of 17 and 3 months are required to take a driver education course — both classroom instruction and Behind-The-Wheel lessons. We make it straightforward.
Get StartedIllinois · Teen Driver Education
Illinois Drivers Ed for Teens
In Illinois, students up to the age of 17 and 3 months are required to take a driver education course — both classroom instruction and Behind-The-Wheel lessons. We make it straightforward.
Driver Education for real Illinois roads
- State-certified curriculum — IL SOS approved
- Free at-home pickup and dropoff for lessons
- Dash-cam safety program reviewed with parents
- Flexible scheduling — weekday and weekend cohorts
Driver Education Packages
All packages include the state-required 30 hours of classroom instruction. Pick the lesson level that fits your driver.
SILVER
Classroom + Driving Lessons
30 Hours of Classroom Instruction
6 x 1-Hour Driving Lessons
6 x 1-Hour Observation Lessons
Recommended
GOLD
Classroom + Driving Lessons
30 Hours of Classroom Instruction
8 x 1-Hour Driving Lessons
No observation Lessons Required!
Platinum
Classroom + Driving Lessons
30 Hours of Classroom Instruction
10 x 1-Hour Driving Lessons
Includes: Optional 2-hour City Driving Lesson
DIAMOND
Classroom + Driving Lessons
30 hours of Classroom Instruction
12 x 1-Hour Driving Lessons
Includes: Optional 2-hour City Driving Lesson
Advanced: In-Vehicle Lesson Scheduling
Behind-The-Wheel Only & Road Tests
Behind the Wheel Only — 6 Hours
Driving Lessons Only
- 6 × 1-hour Behind-The-Wheel lessons
- Best for students who finished classroom elsewhere
Behind the Wheel Only — 8 Hours
Driving Lessons Only
- 8 × 1-hour Behind-The-Wheel lessons
- More road time, more confidence
Illinois Road Test for Teens
Use One of Our Cars
- Skip the SOS line
- Take the road test in a car you’ve trained in
- Examiner provided
Comments from the drivers seat
Brady Pettigrew
Mr. Marty was very nice. He talked me through everything I needed to know while behind the wheel. He also knew how to keep both drivers calm at all times.
Gavin Mastalarz
Very helpful and overall great instructor
ashley wright
My driving instructor Marty was super nice and calm during my drive. He talked me through each step to make sure i was comfortable with what i was doing.
Aaron
Very good instructor!!! He teaches you very well and is very nice
Audrey Rediehs
Marty was a fantastic instructor. He was patient and a good teacher.
Steve Cagney
I highly recommend Richard as an instructor for anyone that is nervous about their child starting to drive.
David Carrero
Driver Marty was very clear on all motions and movements.
Collin Kamuda
Marty was a good driving instructor and gave me good tips on how to improve.
Aiden Oskorep
Marty was a great instructor and he explained things very clearly.
Teen Driver Education
with Top Driver
Top Driver is dedicated to supporting teens throughout their entire driver's license journey. From classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel training to obtaining a learner's permit and passing the road test, we are here to provide the resources and support necessary to succeed.
To enroll, students must reach the age of 15 on or before the final scheduled classroom session of their program. On the Top Driver website after entering your zip code, select your Top Driver location and input your date of birth to view the classes for which you are eligible.
In Illinois, students are required to provide proof of good academic standing from their high school to enroll in Driver Education. The Grade Verification Form must be submitted to Top Driver before the end of class.
The classroom program comprises 30 hours of instruction divided into 15 two-hour sessions. The duration of the classroom program ranges from 3 1/2 weeks to 15 weeks, depending on the frequency of the sessions. Weekday classes meet for 2 or 4 days per week, while weekend classes typically meet once a week.
Teens enrolled in an approved Driver Education program become eligible for an Instruction Permit at age 15. The Instruction Permit is valid for two years from the date of issue.
1. Click here to view the Instruction Permit Requirements
2.Click here to view Required Documentation to apply for an Instruction Permit
Once students obtain their Instruction Permit and enter the permit number in their Top Driver Signals account, they can begin scheduling behind-the-wheel lessons.
Behind-the-wheel training involves a student operating the training vehicle alongside our expert instructors. Sessions are scheduled in one-hour increments and can be paired with an observation lesson. This is when a student observes another student’s driving lesson from the backseat of the training vehicle.
Students must pass both a written classroom final exam and an in-vehicle evaluation to successfully complete their Driver Education Program. If the student is unable to pass the exam in two attempts, they must retake the classroom phase of training at a cost of $200
To be eligible for the road test, students must complete at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice (including at least 10 hours at night) in addition to their Driver Education coursework.
Top Driver is an approved provider of the IL SOS Cooperative Road Test. For more information please check out our IL Teen Road Tests.
Top Driver Locations
Top Driver is in over 3 states with dozens of locations, find the right one for you! If you need help please call 1 (800) 374-8373
Go to Locations Page
Find a teen drivers ed course near you
Enter your zip code or click “use my location”
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FAQs
Common questions from Illinois parents
Top Driver’s Illinois teen program includes 30 hours of state-certified classroom instruction plus six to twelve hours of one-on-one Behind-The-Wheel training, depending on the package tier you choose. All four tiers — Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond — meet the Illinois Secretary of State’s minimum requirement of 30 classroom hours and 6 BTW hours. The tiers differ in how much road time and what extras are included. Silver covers the legal minimum; Gold (Top Driver’s most popular tier) adds two more BTW hours; Platinum and Diamond add additional one-hour driving lessons and an optional 2-hour city driving lesson. Every tier also includes Top Driver’s proprietary Driver Intelligence™ curriculum, progress tracking through the Top Driver Signals portal, and a state-certified instructor. Pricing varies by location — find your nearest location for exact tier pricing.
Top Driver’s most popular choice is the Gold tier — eight one-hour BTW lessons paired with the standard 30-hour classroom program — and it’s the right fit for most first-time teen drivers. Choose Silver if your teen has had significant practice driving with a parent and only needs the state-required minimum Behind-The-Wheel hours. Choose Platinum if your teen is anxious behind the wheel, gets nervous in traffic, or you want extra repetition of city, highway, and parking maneuvers. Choose Diamond if your teen will be driving in dense urban environments like downtown Chicago, you want priority lesson scheduling, or you simply want the most road time available. All four tiers satisfy Illinois licensure requirements; the difference is how confident your teen will feel the day they take the road test.
Top Driver is the only driver education program in the Midwest that pairs state-certified online and classroom instruction with one-on-one in-person Behind-The-Wheel training in our own training vehicles. DriversEd.com and Aceable are online-only providers — they handle the classroom portion in many states, but neither operates physical locations or provides BTW lessons. In Illinois, Behind-The-Wheel training has to happen in person; an online-only provider cannot complete the state requirement on its own. Families who start with an online-only program eventually have to find a separate BTW provider, schedule it independently, and verify the hours count toward Illinois licensure. Top Driver consolidates classroom, BTW, and (in many cases) the road test itself into one program with one record. We’ve trained over 250,000 students across Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin since 2003 with 300+ instructors.
Top Driver operates classroom and Behind-The-Wheel locations across Illinois, with concentrations in Chicagoland, the western suburbs, the North Shore, and DuPage County. Our Illinois footprint includes locations in Naperville, Schaumburg, Hinsdale, Wheaton, Oak Park, Northbrook, Lombard, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Gurnee, McHenry, and many more — the full list is on our locations page. Most locations offer both classroom cohorts and Behind-The-Wheel scheduling out of the same facility, with home pickup and dropoff available for BTW lessons in select ZIP codes. Classroom cohorts run on weekday-evening, weekday-afternoon, and weekend formats so a teen can fit driver education around school, sports, and work schedules. To check whether a specific location offers a class that matches your timeline, visit the locations page and select the location nearest your home.
Yes — Top Driver is one of a small number of Illinois driving schools approved by the Illinois Secretary of State as a Cooperative Road Test provider. Eligible teens can take their official Illinois road test directly with their Top Driver instructor at the Top Driver location, instead of waiting for a Secretary of State driver-services facility appointment. The result counts the same as a road test taken at the SOS — pass and your teen is licensed. The Cooperative Road Test eliminates the typical SOS-appointment wait time (often weeks in busy seasons), lets your teen test in the same vehicle they trained in, and makes the test feel less intimidating. Eligibility requires having completed a Top Driver Illinois teen program. For details on the test itself, see Illinois Cooperative Road Test Explained.
Yes — Top Driver’s Illinois teen program is designed as a hybrid. The 30 hours of classroom instruction can be completed either in a traditional in-person cohort at a Top Driver location or through Top Driver’s state-approved online classroom — both formats are accepted by the Illinois Secretary of State and result in the same credential. Behind-The-Wheel hours, however, must be completed in person; that’s an Illinois state requirement, not a Top Driver policy. Online classroom is the right choice if your teen has scheduling conflicts with the in-person cohort schedule, prefers self-paced work, or lives far from a classroom location but close to a BTW pickup zone. In-person classroom is often the right choice if your teen learns better with peers, benefits from instructor-led discussion, or you want them off screens for a few hours a week.
Realistically, an Illinois teen takes 10 to 14 months from enrollment to a driver’s license — and most of that time is the 9-month permit hold period required by state law, not Top Driver coursework. The Top Driver classroom phase typically takes 4 to 6 weeks depending on cohort cadence. Behind-The-Wheel training takes another 3 to 6 weeks once your teen has a permit and starts scheduling lessons. After that, Illinois law requires a minimum 9 months of permit-holding plus 50 hours of supervised practice driving (10 of those at night) before the teen is eligible to take the road test. Many providers downplay this timeline; Top Driver doesn’t, because planning around it matters. Start enrollment well before your teen’s 16th birthday if you want a license shortly after. For a step-by-step breakdown, see How to Get an Illinois Driver’s License as a Teen.
Top Driver has been training Illinois teens since 2003 — over 22 years — and is the largest driving school in the Midwest, with 300+ instructors, 250,000+ total graduates across Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and 42 classroom locations region-wide. Top Driver was founded in Illinois and remains headquartered in Lombard. The Illinois Secretary of State has approved Top Driver as a Cooperative Road Test provider — a designation extended to a relatively small number of Illinois driving schools and one indicator that Top Driver’s curriculum and instructor standards are recognized by the state itself. Top Driver’s proprietary Driver Intelligence™ curriculum was developed specifically to go beyond the state minimum and address skills (defensive driving, distraction management, weather adaptation) that show up in the real-world crash data for new teen drivers. Reviews and instructor stories from Illinois families are on the Top Driver homepage.
Ready to enroll your teen?
Pick a location, choose a package, and we'll handle the rest.