Teaching: Giving Students ‘Time and Space’ to Process

The DFW rate — the share of students who receive a grade of D or F or withdraw — in gateway courses has emerged as an important metric. DFW rates are correlated with progress to graduation. They can also be an important gauge of equity: In general, DFW rates are higher for first-generation students, students from underrepresented minority groups, and men than for their classmates. Both trends come through in this recent look at DFW rates for a set of common high-enrollment gateway courses compiled by a group of Big Ten universities working together on a project for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.