Iowa State’s learning communities have recently been ranked among the top 25 programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

“The first year they did this list, they gave a specific ranking and ISU was named No. 5,” said Doug Gruenewald, assistant director of residence halls and co-director of learning communities.

Right now there is no specific rank ordering among the top 25.

U.S. News and World Report invites college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students and deans of admissions to nominate 10 schools with outstanding learning communities. Colleges and universities nominated the most make the list. Schools of all sizes were included on the list, Gruenewald said.

Iowa State began its learning community program in 1995 with 12 communities and 400 participants, according to the ISU Learning Communities Web site. There are more than 50 learning communities now, and almost 47 percent of first-year students join one.

Corly Brooke, co-director of learning communities, said most communities are for freshmen.

Brooke, who is also director of the Center for Excellence in Learn and Teach and director of human development and family studies, said learning communities are an attempt to make a large university smaller. Each community varies based on major.

According to the Web site, students generally take one to three courses together. Brooke said outside-of-class events are planned to allow students to get to know one another better, and about a third of students in learning communities also live in residence halls together.

Students enrolled in a learning community have a higher retention and graduation rate than non-learning community students, Gruenewald said.

“Retention and graduation rates for learning community students have remained relatively constant,” he said. “Six-year graduation rates for learning community students have been over 75 percent, more than 10 percent higher than non-learning community students.”