Improvement in undergraduate retention and progression is a priority at many US postsecondary institutions. A number of institutions address this issue by identifying gateway courses (foundational courses in which a large number of students fail or withdraw) and concentrating on "fixing" them. This paper argues that may not be the best…

In this paper we argue that simply identifying gateway courses in which a large number of students fail or withdraw and focusing attention on them may not always be the best use of limited resources. No matter what we do, there will always be courses with high D/F/W rates simply because of the nature of their content and the preparation of the…