After nearly two centuries, the promise of U.S. public schools to foster effective and meaningful learning opportunities for all children across race and social class remains unfulfilled. In this report, we examine the potential for religious faith to help bridge student learning opportunity gaps—given that seven in ten Americans identify with a faith tradition and that religious faith plays a significant role in various dimensions of human flourishing. We define religious faith as including both (a) personal spiritual beliefs and practices and (b) participation in religious organizations that structure shared beliefs, values, and rituals that guide personal and community conduct.
We review empirical evidence on:
• the impact of the religious faith of students and their family members on PK–12 student learning and development;
• educational programs of religious and faith-based organizations intended to support students’ academic learning; and
• how the religious faith of educators relates to their work in classrooms and the learning opportunities for their students.
While we do not advocate for public schools to teach religious doctrine or use public funds for religious purposes, partnerships with faith communities can offer untapped resources to enrich student learning opportunities, especially for those in disadvantaged communities. We advocate for a "third way”—in the nonsectarian tradition of Benjamin Franklin—that avoids the two extremes of endorsing religion in schools, on one end, or entirely excluding it from the work of schools, on the other. To enhance opportunities for students to learn and to develop, we encourage meaningful collaborations between educators, families, and faith leaders that respect the separation of church and state reflected in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Our audience for this report is intentionally wide: faith leaders, school leaders, teacher educators, teachers, parents, philanthropists, policymakers, and researchers across religious traditions. We make the following recommendations to leverage religion as a resource to enhance learning opportunities for all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds:
- Distribute information about existing partnerships between public schools and faith organizations.
- Establish regular communication between faith communities and public school systems.
- Develop deliberate educational programming within churches, gurdwaras, mosques, spiritual communities, synagogues, temples, and other places of worship based on the student learning needs within their communities.
- Create deep and coordinated partnership activities between faith organizations and public schools to understand and meet the learning needs of students.
- Provide public school educators with opportunities to explore how their work and their religious faith intersect.
- Conduct more research on religious faith as a resource for improving learning opportunities for all student