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
How Effective Redesign Can Improve Developmental Math Outcomes
While redesigning traditional algebra-focused developmental math, coordinator Kathleen Almy recognized a need for content relevant to non-STEM students, leading her to help develop Math Literacy for College Students (Quantway), which created math pathways. This led to the creation of the textbook Math Lit, an accelerated, one-semester, contextualized option that resulted in success rates comparable to or better than traditional courses, with research showing Black and Latino men experiencing particularly strong gains.
Placement Reform Leads to More College-Level Math Success at Manchester University
Dive into the details of Manchester University’s math program transformation—complete with actionable insights, methodology, and outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about our gateway course redesign service and implementation process.
