Sec. 7.8. Course completion certificate (Form MV-278)

(a) Drivers' schools and other approved agencies must obtain MV-278 certificates from the local Department of Motor Vehicles district office. The person(s) responsible for the secondary driver education program and/or the continuing education prelicensing program must obtain MV-278 certificates from the State Education Department. Course completion certificates shall be issued only to those schools that have qualified instructors.

(b) The instructor(s) who conducts the prelicensing program or research study program must sign the course completion certificate. The certificate shall not be signed by the instructor prior to conducting the prelicensing course or issued by the instructor until after the completion of the prelicensing course or research study program and must bear the completion date. The month must be spelled out in complete or abbreviated form but may not be written numerically.

(c) Except as hereinafter provided in this section upon completion of an approved course, the original of a course completion certificate completed by the school shall be issued to the student. The duplicate copy of such certificate shall be retained by the school for a period of one year from the date of issuance.

(d) If the approved school is a high school or college providing an approved driver education course, a course completion certificate may be issued to the student when, in the opinion of the instructor, that material which is required to be given in an approved course has been taught to the student even though the driver education course has not been completed.

(e) A duplicate course completion certificate may be issued by the school to the student only when the original certificate has been lost, stolen, mutilated or destroyed. No duplicate course completion certificate may be issued later than one year after the issuance of the original. The duplicate certificate will expire on the expiration date of the original which it is replacing. A duplicate MV-278 certificate must be signed by the instructor or school owner or director of continuing education or principal of the school providing the instruction.

(f) The local district office must be notified immediately upon the drivers' school's loss or theft of any MV-278 certificates by secondary driver education and continuing education programs. Identification numbers of the lost MV-278 certificates must be forwarded to the department.

(g) In the event a prelicensing program or research study program is discontinued, all remaining MV-278 certificates must be accounted for and returned to a department district office or the Education Department.