Unpacking High-Impact Practices in the Arts: Predictors of College, Career, and Community Engagement Outcomes

SNAAP research scientist, Angie L. Miller, Indiana University Bloomington, and co-authors Nathan Martin, Arizona State University and Alexandre Frenette, Vanderbilt University, used SNAAP data to explore whether participating in ​“high-impact practices” (HIPs) such as internships, community service, study abroad, creating a portfolio, and working with an artist in the community are related to various educational, career, and community involvement outcomes for alumni with undergraduate degrees in the arts. This study originated from a presentation at the annual Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts Conference in 2017, and was recently published in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society.

There is a great deal of research on the benefits of participation in ​‘high-impact practices” (HIPs) in higher education, especially related to their influence on student learning and development (Kuh, 2008). To be considered an HIP, the activity necessitates a considerable amount of students’ time and effort, offers structured opportunities for reflection and integrative thinking, provides substantive feedback from faculty, provides opportunities for learning outside of the classroom, incorporates meaningful contacts with faculty and peers, and involves interactions with a diverse group of people (Kuh & O’Donnell, 2013). However, most HIPs emphasized in the higher education curriculum (i.e. learning communities, service learning, undergraduate research with faculty, internships, senior capstone projects or culminating experiences, and study abroad) are not discipline-specific.

This study explores whether more traditional HIP participation (community service, internships, and study abroad) and discipline-specific HIPs (working with an artist in the community and use of portfolios) predict academic, career, and community involvement outcomes. Data from 43,515 undergraduate-level arts alumni from the 2015 and 2016 SNAAP survey administrations suggests that many arts alumni were involved in HIPs during their time at their institutions, to varying degrees (see Figure 1). Furthermore, a series of regression models found that several different types of HIP participation were significant predictors of a variety of educational, career, and community involvement outcomes, although the magnitude of the relationship varied greatly depending on the outcome. These relationships were apparent even after statistically controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, parent artist status, parent education level, years since graduation, major, institutional type, and institutional size.