Do school teacher parents make a difference?

Two national probability samples are used to uncover whether children benefit from having school teacher parents. The inquiry is motivated by frequent commentaries by teachers that substandard student performance is associated with unhelpful parenting practices. If teachers believe that parents are crucial for determining child outcomes, then we may better learn of the potential for parenting to affect children's development by examining the environments teachers create for their own children. I find significant school teacher effects on children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes, after accounting for family SES, mothers' cognitive ability, occupational aspirations, college field of study, and her early preferences for family life. Once I control for self-selection into teaching and home environment quality, which parents create for children, I find that school teacher parents significantly make a difference in lowering the incidence of behavioral problems in male children. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.