Racial Diversity, Student Religiosity, and School Choice: An Empirical Case Study of Multi-Racial Religious Education

Abstract

This article comprises an empirical case study of student religiosity in the context of urban school choice. The purpose of this study was to compare student religiosity in a racially diverse religious private school to determine whether religious faith is a unifying factor across racial categories. Insofar as school choice has been called “the civil rights issue of the 21st century,” religious private schools may provide opportunities for creating intentional multi-racial school environments in the face of rapidly re-segregating public school districts. This study was conducted in 2012 at an urban religious private PreK–12 school with a 57% poverty rate, 58% minority students, and 58% of its students utilizing state-funded tuition vouchers (N = 127). Student religiosity was not found to be significantly different across racial categories. Implications are discussed in relation to public policy and the future of school choice initiatives in relation to religious private schools. The study suggests that student religiosity establishes “holy ground” upon which racial understanding, appreciation, and reconciliation can occur in a multi-racial school environment. Recommendations for reform are made for both public policy and religious education.