The effects of religious commitment on the academic achievement of Black and Hispanic children

Using the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS) data set from the 1 988 to 1992 period, this study assessed the effects of student religious co mmitment on the academic achievement of Black and Hispanic children. The re sults indicate that religiously committed Black and Hispanic children perfo rmed better on most academic measures than their less religious counterpart s, even when controlling for socioeconomic status, gender and whether the s tudent attended a private religious school. These results suggest that when researchers study the effects of religion an the academic achievement of c hildren, the nature of the school should he considered but also the religio us nature of many of the Black and Hispanic students. The significance of t hese results is discussed.