December 13, 2024
“Transforming the Gateway Course Experience: A Call to Action for Higher Education” is now available.
We are excited to announce a new book by Andrew K. Koch. “Transforming the Gateway Course Experience: A Call to Action for Higher Education”.
This book explores the critical role of gateway courses in higher education and how they reflect broader societal, cultural, and economic issues. It emphasizes the need to address inequities within these courses to improve student success. Drawing from his extensive experience in education and his role at the Gardner Institute, Koch provides historical and philosophical contextualization for these issues. The book serves as a call to action for educators, urging them to recognize and address the inequitable outcomes in gateway courses. It argues that these outcomes result from specific practices and policies, rather than occurring naturally. Using data and examples from Gardner Institute work with hundreds of colleges and universities, Koch highlights systemic issues that perpetuate inequality in higher education.
The content includes an examination of high failure rates in gateway courses and suggestions for policy changes to improve outcomes. It discusses how race and class divisions are reinforced through current practices in gateway courses, supported by data from numerous institutions. The book also explores how these courses impact students’ sense of belonging and perpetuate stereotypes and critiques the toxic culture of weeding out students while challenging myths such as grade inflation and curve grading. To provide practical solutions, Koch presents an evidence-based model for improving teaching, learning, and success in gateway courses. Written in an accessible style, the book aims to offer educators insights and strategies to transform gateway courses into true opportunities for student success, ultimately advancing higher education’s broader equity and social justice goals.
This book will be released on December 13, 2024 and is available here from Routledge.
