ABSTRACT
The socioeconomic status of a child’s parents has always been one of the strongest predictors of the child’s academic achievement and educational attainment. The relationship between family socioeconomic characteristics and student achievement is one of the most robust patterns in educational scholarship, yet the causes and mechanisms of this relationship have been the subject of considerable disagreement and debate (see, for example, Bowles and Gintis 1976, 2002; Brooks-Gunn and Duncan 1997 ; Duncan and Brooks-Gunn 1997; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, and Klebanov 1994; Herrnstein and Murray 1994; Jacoby and Glauberman 1995; Lareau 1989, 2003).
