{"id":449,"date":"2020-06-29T20:56:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T01:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/everylearnlive.wpengine.com\/?p=449"},"modified":"2022-08-02T13:45:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T18:45:23","slug":"what-are-gateway-courses-and-why-do-they-matter-to-equity-in-higher-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everylearnereverywhere.org\/es\/blog\/what-are-gateway-courses-and-why-do-they-matter-to-equity-in-higher-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Gateway Courses and Why Do They Matter to Equity in Higher Ed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Every Learner Everywhere\u00ae, we often talk about gateway courses in higher education being a key place that influences student outcomes. What do we mean by a gateway course, and why do we particularly focus on them?<\/p>\n

A gateway course is the first credit-bearing college-level course in a program of study. These courses generally apply to the requirements of a degree program and may also be called introductory courses or prerequisites. Typically, every student majoring in a given discipline must pass through the gateway courses.<\/p>\n

Depending on the major, common examples of gateway courses include Anatomy or introductory courses in Business, Chemistry, and Psychology.<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, general education courses like Applied Algebra, English Composition, or Spanish I or other foreign languages are also referred to as gateway courses since most students must pass through them.<\/p>\n

Ideally, gateway courses welcome students into a domain where they learn the foundational skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in the rest of their college careers. In practice, however, gateway courses can act as choke points that slow down student progress or take a lasting toll. And data shows that underrepresented college students are disproportionately held back by gateway courses, leading to lower graduation rates.<\/p>\n

Why gateway courses are important to student success and equity<\/h2>\n

The skills and knowledge students learn in gateway courses go beyond the academic environment, notes Laura Niesen de Abruna, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at York College of Pennsylvania<\/a> and past chair of the Association of Chief Academic Officers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneral education is what makes people successful in a complicated society,\u201d says Niesen de Abruna. \u201cThe learning outcomes taught in these early courses, whether critical thinking, quantitative skills, or working in teams, are those that have been identified as the outcomes that make you successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gateway courses set up college students for success, both during their academic career and their professional lives. When students don\u2019t do well in these courses, they\u2019re beginning their college experience with fewer resources. They may lack the knowledge to do well in their chosen major or even to complete their degree.<\/p>\n

While this is true for all students, gateway courses can present a particular barrier to low-income, first-generation, minority, and women students. A 2018 Gardner Institute study looked at DFWI rates in gateway courses<\/a> (the rate of students who either earned grades of D or F, withdrew from the course, or recorded an incomplete). It showed that low-income and first-generation students had disproportionate DFWI rates.<\/p>\n

\"Gardner

Credit: Digging Into the Disciplines I: Accounting for Failure \u2014 The Impact of Principles of Accounting Courses on Student Success and Equitable Outcomes<\/a>, Gardner Institute, 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u200dThe study looked at accounting, calculus, and chemistry courses in particular, where women had DFWI rates up to 8 percent higher than men and African-American students had DFWI rates up to 18 percent higher than white students.<\/p>\n

Even more troubling, slower starts to academic careers compounded into lower retention rates. Looking at calculus, for example, among students who had taken the course and had been dismissed by their university after their freshman year, 95 percent were in the DFWI group.<\/p>\n

But another hidden population of students were in good academic standing (a 2.0 GPA or higher overall) and chose not to return for the second year: among those, 50 percent of students were in the DFWI group in their calculus course.<\/p>\n

\"Gardner

Credit: Digging Into the Disciplines I: Accounting for Failure \u2014 The Impact of Principles of Accounting Courses on Student Success and Equitable Outcomes<\/a>, Gardner Institute, 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

These outcomes shouldn\u2019t be explained away or ignored, as the report notes: \u201cThese courses are often structured to push students out rather than to provide an instruction experience that lifts them up toward their education and occupational goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Widening the gate to achieve equity<\/h2>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re concerned about student success, it\u2019s not just getting people in the door,\u201d says Niesen de Abruna. \u201cIt\u2019s holding on to them. And so your best opportunity to try to get students through programs is to focus on courses that students are likely to take early on in their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

One reason for the gap in student outcomes in gateway courses is that many of these courses have been designed with one type of learner in mind. And as Every Learner Everywhere\u00ae Executive Director Jessica Rowland Williams points out, student demographics are changing.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are coming from different backgrounds,\u201d she says. \u201cThey have different life experiences. They\u2019ve had different educational experiences. And so a one-size-fits all approach to teaching doesn\u2019t really work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related reading: Preparing for a Post-COVID Learning Model That Better Serves Disadvantaged Students<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A number of strategies for improving learning outcomes in gateway courses exist, including:<\/p>\n