Gateway Course Redesign
Stop losing students in foundational courses. Our comprehensive gateway course redesign approach eliminates barriers while maintaining academic rigor, turning your most critical and often challenging courses into pathways for student achievement and retention.
Gateway Course Redesign That Works for Staff, Faculty, and Students
We don't just identify problems, we help you solve them. Our comprehensive approach addresses every aspect of gateway course success, from institutional culture and placement approaches to curriculum design and faculty development for lasting transformation.
- Research-Based Methods: Evidence-backed strategies proven to improve student outcomes at scale
- Customized Solutions: Strategies tailored to your institution's unique context and constraints
- Faculty Partnership: Work that happens with, not against, faculty to ensure buy-in and successful implementation
- Measurable Outcomes: Focus on concrete results, not just activities or good intentions
Ready to Overcome the Gateway Bottleneck?
Gateway math, English, biology, and chemistry courses have become notorious blockers rather than bridges to student success. Despite years of reform efforts, many institutions still see high failure rates, student avoidance of required courses, and faculty frustration with ineffective approaches that remain unchanged across most course sections.
Most gateway reform efforts fail because they operate in pockets rather than at scale. Real transformation requires faculty buy-in for the hardest conversations and comprehensive changes to placement, instruction, assessment, curriculum, and support systems that most consultants avoid but that actually create outcomes.
Get everything you need for successful gateway course transformation. Our comprehensive approach includes assessment, strategy, implementation, and ongoing support to ensure lasting improvements in student success.
Complete Course Audit
Comprehensive evaluation of current curriculum, pedagogy, needs, and outcomes
Corequisite Model Development
Discipline-specific support systems customized to institutional context
Systems Integration Support
Placement and advising alignment to ensure students take the right course at the right time
Implementation Project Management
Professional oversight with clear milestones and accountability measures
Typical Outcomes for Our Clients
Most clients see an increase in gateway course completion rates within their 12-18 months working with Almy Education
- Significant reduction in DFW rates across all gateway course sections
- Reduced time to gateway completion from multiple semesters to one
- Decreased need or use of traditional developmental education sequences
- Improved student retention and progression to program coursework
- Sustainable systems for ongoing course improvement and adaptation
Proven Results, Lasting Impact with
Gateway Course Redesign
Streamlining a Multi-Semester Developmental Sequence at Illinois Central College
Responding to a state mandate, Illinois Central College partnered with Almy Education to replace their three-semester developmental math sequence with a single, streamlined course focused on essential content for College Algebra. This redesigned course, launched in Spring 2023, prioritizes mathematical thinking, active learning, and a growth mindset, resulting in positive early indicators of student success in subsequent college-level math.
Redesigning Developmental and Corequisite Math Courses at Manchester University
Facing low success and high withdrawal rates in developmental math, Manchester University eliminated its Basic Mathematics course and shifted to using High School GPA for student placement instead of a test. This redesign allowed significantly more students into college-level math, and by implementing improved pedagogy and a corequisite model for those with lower GPAs, the university maintained its overall pass rate of approximately 78%.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about our gateway course redesign service and implementation process.
