TEACHING THE BIBLE IN SCHOOL:

New studies show justification for introducing the Bible as Literature course in public schools.

In a presentation at the American Educational Research Association's Annual Conference in Chicago, William Jeynes, a Non-resident Scholar at Baylor University and a Professor at California State University in Long Beach, shared long awaited results of his research on the influence of Bible Literacy on student achievement.

The results represent the first time that a social scientist has attempted to extensively assess the academic and behavioral effects of Bible literacy.

Jeynes, a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago, presented studies that included a meta-analysis of the effects of Bible literacy, a second study focusing on a private religious school, and a study of students from both public and private schools.

The meta-analysis, which involves statistically synthesizing all the research that has been done on a given topic, indicated that students who possessed high levels of Bible knowledge achieved at higher academic levels and were more likely to demonstrate positive behavior patterns than those with lower levels of Bible knowledge.

The other two studies also showed dramatic differences between students between students who possessed high and low levels of Bible knowledge. In the second study, the difference in GPA between students high versus low in Bible literacy was 3.60 vs. 2.47. In the third study the difference in GPA between the two groups was 3.31 versus 2.91.

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