Using the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS) data set from the 1988 to 1992 period, this study assessed the effects of the combination of living in an intact family and student religious commitment on the academic achievement of Black and Hispanic 12th graders. The results indicate that Black and Hispanic children who lived in an intact family and showed a high level of religiosity scored as well as White students on most measures of academic achievement, even when controlling for socioeconomic status and gender. These same Black and Hispanic students also performed better than their Black and Hispanic counterparts who were not from intact families and/or were not high in religiosity. These results suggest that parental family structure and religiosity may play a larger role in explaining the academic gap between Black and Hispanic students, on one hand, and Whites, on the other hand, than was previously believed.
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