Do Faith-Based Organizations Have a Role in Promoting Educational Outcomes?

A Forum —June 25, 2004

Recent studies, both popular and academic, have focused attention on the life chances of children. There is particular concern about the lingering effects of disadvantages experienced during childhood, such as family instability, neighborhood instability, and the inadequacy of institutions. These factors are thought to work together to ensure that poor families stay poor, and that children from disadvantaged backgrounds carry those disadvantages with them into adulthood.

A growing subset of these studies focuses on the children that are able to overcome the disadvantages of their youth to later become at least minimally “successful,” in terms of completing high school, enrolling in college, joining the labor force, and earning wages sufficient to support a family. Although the specific findings vary from study to study, the key factors that are typically found to play a role in achieving success are various aspects of parental achievements and family life, household stability, and neighborhood/school characteristics.

Other studies have also examined the role of extracurricular activities and other forms of group association in promoting the success of children. Generally overlooked, however, is whether a child’s association with a religious institution (church, synagogue, temple or other house of worship) can contribute to his or her schooling.

Nancy Gardner, the Harold Howe Youth Policy Fellow of the American Youth Policy Forum, presented data on the religious lives of teenagers obtained from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey. The data indicate that participation in non-worship religious activities has a positive impact on the graduation rates of students finishing school on time. Those who engaged in some religious activity at some point between 8th and 12th grade were 7.3 percent more likely to graduate on time than those who did not engage in any religious activity. Perhaps more telling is that those who engaged in at least one religious activity in each of 8th, 10th, and 12th grades were 17 percent more likely to graduate on time. While religious participation increased the likelihood of high school graduation, the impact of secular extra curricular participation on high school graduation was even greater. Those who engaged in at least one secular activity at some point between 8th and 12th grade were 90.3 percent more likely to graduate on time than those who did not engage in any secular activity, and those who engaged in at least one secular activity in each of 8th, 10th, and 12th grades were 142.5 percent more likely to graduate on time than those who did not. Athletic participation made a significant difference as well. The likelihood of on-time graduation for those who participated in athletics at some point between 8th and 12th grade was 75.4 percent greater than those who did not participate in athletics. Additionally, those who engaged in at least one athletic activity in each of 8th, 10th, and 12th grades were 273.5 percent more likely to graduate on time than those who did not have a similar participation during those three years of evaluation. These data indicate that the schools and the public policy approaches to student participation in the communities of secular, religious, and athletics should focus on reducing obstacles to participation in extracurricular activity.

Luis Torres, program director for the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, indicated that the goals of the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy are to provide teens with good relationships with parents and adults, and to encourage teens to plan for the future, have a safe environment in which they can feel comfortable, have fun, lead healthy lives and have academic success. The DC Campaign argues that when these criteria are met, teen pregnancy should be a less frequent phenomenon. To meet these goals, the DC Campaign partners with area churches which actually facilitate the relationships between youth and adults. Currently, the DC Campaign is partnered with six DC area churches with each church serving ten students. One of the strengths of the program is that the flexibility encourages youth empowerment for those who participate in and guide the activities.

David Brown, director of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church Community Club, contended that the strength of the Community Club is found in the long-term relationships between the students and adult mentors. These relationships are founded upon the commitment that adult volunteers make to the students and the program. The commitment is to give one night a week to the students who attend the Community Club at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. The program’s criterion for student participation is a simple one: students must be enrolled in public school. Adult volunteers undergo a background check and must commit to weekly meetings with the students at the church. The program is fairly simple insofar as the adults meet with the students without many mandates or regulations from the program. This allows the relationship to take its own course. The program offers $35,000 in scholarships as an incentive to keep the students in school and achieving good grades, a goal which has been attained with none of the scholarship recipients dropping out.

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