How to Fill Out the Texas DL-91B Behind-the-Wheel Instruction Log

The Texas DL-91B behind-the-wheel instruction log is the form where you record every supervised driving session your teen completes under the Parent Taught Driver Education program, and DPS will check it against the state’s 44-hour requirement before issuing a provisional license. Fill it in after each session with the date, minutes driven, and whether the time counts as instruction, observation, or supervised practice. Both you and your teen sign it once the hours are complete. Get any of that wrong and the appointment stops at the front desk.

Where the DL-91B Comes From

You cannot download the DL-91B on its own. It ships inside the Parent Taught Driver Education packet sold by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for $20. As of January 2026, TDLR delivers the packet only by email; the mail-order option is gone. You order through the TDLR Parent Taught Driver Education page by entering the student’s name and date of birth along with the parent instructor’s information, then paying by credit or debit card. A PDF packet arrives at the email address you provided, and a download link also appears on the confirmation screen.

The packet contains the DL-91B log along with the DL-90B affidavit (a separate form the instructor signs to certify the behind-the-wheel phase is complete) and the DE-964 driver education certificate issued through your course provider.¹ Keep them together. DPS wants the original DL-91B at the licensing appointment, not a reprint from a phone app. Apps like RoadReady are useful for your own tracking, but they do not replace the paper log from the packet.

What Each Entry Needs

The log is straightforward, and sloppy entries are one of the most common reasons families get turned away at DPS. For every session, write down:

The date of the session.
The number of minutes on the road.
Which category the time falls into: behind-the-wheel instruction, in-car observation, or supervised practice.

Fill the log in right after each drive, not from memory weeks later. For instructional sessions, note the specific maneuvers you covered. The approved curriculum includes parallel parking, right and left turns, lane changes, navigating intersections, highway driving, and responding to emergency vehicles. Listing what you actually worked on shows the student went through the full curriculum instead of circling the same neighborhood for 44 hours.

The Hour Totals the Log Has to Show

Texas Administrative Code Title 16, § 84.50 sets a minimum of 44 total behind-the-wheel hours, split into three categories:²

7 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, where the student drives while the instructor teaches specific maneuvers from the curriculum.
7 hours of in-car observation, where the student rides beside the instructor and watches demonstrations without driving.
30 hours of supervised practice, with a licensed adult at least 21 years old in the vehicle. At least 10 of those 30 hours must be at night.

In-car instruction is capped at two hours per day, so the 14 hours of instruction and observation take at least seven days to finish.² The 30 supervised practice hours have no daily cap, but a qualifying supervising adult still has to be in the car the whole time.

One rule catches families off guard: all 14 hours of in-car instruction and observation must be completed under one program. If a student starts with a commercial driving school and switches to parent-taught partway through, every previous instructional hour has to be repeated from scratch.²

Who Can Sign as the Instructor

Hours logged under someone who does not qualify as an instructor get thrown out, so check this before the first session, not after. Under Texas Education Code § 1001.112, the instructor must be a parent, stepparent, foster parent, legal guardian, grandparent, or step-grandparent of the student.³ Aunts, uncles, older siblings, and family friends do not qualify, even if they live in the same household.

A non-family member can serve only if a parent, legal guardian, or judge with jurisdiction over the student formally designates that person on a TDLR-prescribed form. The designee has to be at least 25 years old, have at least seven years of driving experience, and cannot charge for the instruction.³

License and Driving Record

Every instructor, whether a family member or a designee, must have held a valid driver’s license for the three years right before the training starts, without any suspension, revocation, or forfeiture during that period for a motor vehicle offense.³ The statute also disqualifies anyone with:

A criminally negligent homicide conviction at any point.
A DWI conviction within the past seven years.
Three or more moving violations within the past three years, including any that caused a collision.
Two or more moving violations within the past three years that each resulted in a collision.

DPS runs the instructor’s driving record. If it turns out the instructor was not eligible, every hour recorded under that person’s supervision can be rejected.³

Signing the Log

Once the hours are finished, both the instructor and the student sign the DL-91B. Those signatures attest that the training actually happened the way the log describes. The DL-91B is a government record, and providing false information can lead to denial of the license application or criminal prosecution under the Texas Penal Code. Do not sign for sessions you did not actually run, and do not backfill blocks of hours to hit 44.

What Goes With the Log at DPS

The DL-91B is one piece of a larger paperwork stack. When your teen goes to the DPS office for the road test, the completed log needs to travel with the DL-90B affidavit (one per instructor who supervised behind-the-wheel time), the DE-964 driver education certificate, the Impact Texas Teen Driver certificate, a Verification of Enrollment and Attendance if the applicant is under 18 without a diploma or GED, the DL-43 application, proof of liability insurance for the test vehicle, and that vehicle’s current registration.¹ The VOE expires 30 days after the school issues it, so time the appointment accordingly.⁴

At the counter, the examiner reviews the paperwork first, verifies the hours meet the minimums, confirms the instructor’s eligibility, and checks the signatures. Only after that does the road test itself begin.⁵ A log that is complete, current, and signed by a qualified instructor is what moves the appointment forward.

1
Texas Department of Public Safety. Parent Taught Educational Provisional License Application Checklist
2
Legal Information Institute. 16 Texas Admin Code 84.50 – Parent-Taught Driver Education
3
Texas Public Law. Texas Education Code Section 1001.112 – Parent-Taught Driver Education
4
Texas Department of Public Safety. Verification of Enrollment and Attendance (VOE) Form
5
Department of Public Safety. Texas Provisional License as a Teen