Parents or teachers: who play a more important role in influencing children's academic gains in early childhood education?

Finding ways to increase the effectiveness of early childhood education has been a big concern for many educators and policymakers. In an attempt to solve this problem, they are faced with a dilemma of whether to concentrate on parent or teacher inputs. Previous research has studied the impact of either teacher or parent factors on students' academic performance. However, not many papers narrow their focus to the outcomes from early childhood programs. Using the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten (2001-2003) data, the paper aims to fill in this gap in the literature. Multiple linear regressions are used to weight the relative importance of teacher- and parent-related inputs on children's academic gains. It is found that, while teacher's education is positively correlated with better outcomes, parent inputs, especially parental involvement, are bigger determinants of children's academic outcomes and behaviors. These findings suggest which factors policymakers, with limited resources, should focus more on during education reform.