Latino students and spiritual release time programs: Does releasing students from class for spiritual instruction impede academic achievement?

The Latino population is growing rapidly in the United States. In keeping with the devout spirituality that animates Latino culture, one program that appeals to many Latino families with school-age children is release time, a little-known program that allows children to be released from class to receive spiritual instruction. The increasing use of high-stakes standardized testing has placed pressure on schools to eliminate spiritual release time programs due to concerns that excusing students from class may hinder their academic achievement. This study sought to test the assumption that releasing Latino students from class to receive spiritual instruction results in lower test scores relative to their nonparticipating peers. The results suggest that release time enhances rather than inhibits academic achievement.