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Student success in gateway English courses is a critical issue in higher education, one that acutely impacts long-term academic outcomes for community college students (Massa-McKinley, 2023). Despite various interventions involving curriculum, faculty professional development, academic support, and online course quality, national data indicates that 48% of students who do not complete gateway English in their first year of college are not retained in the second year (Massa-McKinley, 2023). In Kentucky, only 21% of community college students completed gateway English and math in the academic year 2020-2021 (Massa-McKinley, 2023). The low number of students completing this milestone indicates that many of those students will not be retained, therefore making them less likely to complete a credential and less likely to pursue transfer for a baccalaureate degree. According to the Kentucky Council for Postsecondary Education (2024), "In Kentucky, institutional performance gaps in gateway course success exist by race, income, and age" (p. 5). Because completion of gateway courses is such an important step toward degree completion, it has become a focal point in Kentucky to increase student success.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines equity as "fairness and justice ... recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances" (NACE, 2024, para. 1). While equity may be defined in various contexts, NACE's (2024) definition emphasizes that "the process is ongoing, requiring us to identify and overcome intentional and unintentional barriers arising from bias or system structures" (para. 1). In a higher education context then, specifically in gateway English, achieving equity can be considered the intentional dismantling of barriers in the classroom and within the institution that lead to imbalances in students' academic outcomes; those barriers most often can be identified in terms of ped' agogical practices, the structure of developmental education programs, institutional policies impacting placement, and even national initiatives designed to promote degree completion. Equity, then, is a moving tan get upon which gateway English program directors and faculty must be laser-focused.
Equity gaps in student outcomes are cause for concern at any institution, but in community colleges, the academic and financial issues students face are the result of systemic socioeconomic inequities common among the population who choose to attend them. Community colleges,...