This dissertation provides a comparative study of Catholic, Lutheran and Seventh—Day Adventist Hispanic parents who enroll their children in religiously—based schools. The research project starts from the premise that the principal reasons Hispanic parents give for enrolling their children in religiously—based schools vary by degrees of religious commitment and types of affiliation with the denominations. The dissertation’s principal aim is to test the hypothesis that more intense religious commitment predicts higher levels of parental expectations for achievement and contributes to successful student performance in school. The parental expectations for student achievement and the actual performance of the students are linked by higher involvement of the parents in the educational process of their children. Based on the analysis of secondary sources and original data obtained through a survey and depth interviews, this dissertation hopes to contribute new knowledge by documenting the extent to which Latinos both draw on religious beliefs and doctrine as a source of motivation, and lean on schools — as structures of institutional religion— as a social resource for the benefit of their children. In so doing, the study will approach the connections between religion and education from a perspective that contrasts with the tendency to look at religion as an outcome, even as a marginal variable, vis a vis other social, economic, and institutional factors.