Remember that beginning College Algebra class it took you two tries—or maybe three— to pass?

University of Utah leaders are working to make it a thing of the past. Academic leaders, instructors and teaching experts across the University of Utah have come together to improve student outcomes in courses with high DEWI rates (D or E grades, withdrawals or incompletes)—including Math 1050, Economics 2020 and Sociology 1010.

Over the past year, the collaborative effort has led to a 3 percent decline in DEWI rates, and courses that started with failure rates above 15 percent documented a 7 percent reduction overall, including a change of just over 7.4 percent in introductory classes.

At the same time, the redesign of 10 introductory courses with high DEWI rates has saved students an estimated $400,000 in extra tuition costs from taking classes more than once.

“These results reflect meaningful, sustained work by faculty and academic leaders,” said T. Chase Hagood, Vice Provost for Student Success. “The goal was to remove barriers while preserving faculty ownership of curriculum and academic standards. Working together, we examined the data, listened to students and made thoughtful changes without lowering expectations or compromising academic rigor.”

The project, Tackling High-DEWI Course Rates, is led by the Martha Bradley Evans Center for Teaching Excellence (MBECTE) in partnership with colleges, schools and departments. MBECTE provides a comprehensive, evidence-based process that supports faculty and academic leaders in reducing DEWI rates while maintaining high academic standards.

During the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters, 40 courses were redesigned. Just over half have been evaluated and implemented, while another 14 are still in the redesign process. Participating courses span a wide range of disciplines, including music, honors, education, architecture, fine arts, social and behavioral science, science and humanities.

The first step is understanding where challenges exist. Associate deans and department leaders use the university’s course DEWI dashboard and course-specific data to identify courses with the highest failure rates and the greatest opportunity for improvement. Colleges, schools and departments then determine when a course would benefit from a DEWI review.

Faculty remain the content experts throughout the process, while the Center for Teaching Excellence provides instructional design expertise, data analysis and consultation. The review may include historical DEWI rates, student feedback, course materials and assessments, section-level trends and comparisons across instructional formats to better understand why students struggle and where improvements can have the greatest impact.

The center then partners with department chairs, course coordinators, associate deans and faculty to develop a customized action plan before the semester begins. Strategies may include enhanced student support, course redesign, proactive student engagement and faculty development.

“It has been incredibly rewarding to partner with colleges and departments on this work,” said Anne Cook, director of MBECTE. “Faculty and academic leaders have approached the process with openness and a genuine commitment to understanding where students are struggling. Their willingness to examine the data, listen to students and make thoughtful changes is what has made these results possible.”

Course improvement is an intentional, multi-semester process. Faculty typically spend one semester working with MBECTE to analyze data and redesign the course.

The redesigned course is implemented during a subsequent semester, followed by an evaluation of student outcomes to determine the effectiveness of the changes.

University leaders expect that lowering DEWI rates will help more students successfully complete critical courses, maintain momentum toward graduation and avoid the cost and delay of repeating a course.

The project also demonstrates that it is possible to improve student outcomes without compromising academic rigor. By combining faculty expertise with institutional data, student feedback, instructional design and ongoing assessment, participating units have helped more students meet established learning outcomes while maintaining high expectations.

“We’re encouraged by early outcomes, but the real opportunity is ahead of us,” Hagood said. “Every department that engages this effort helps build a stronger foundation for student success. Together, we can improve the courses that serve the most students and facilitate their progress toward degree completion.”