A review of the research literature on parents as teachers yields several conclusions concerning the context and function of the family in the child's learning and development: (1) the parent-as-educator functions in the context of a complex family eco-system which interfaces efficiently or inefficiently with other systems, such as the school; (2) appropriate parent education programs grow as a partnership between culturally sensitive professional expertise and parent determined values, beliefs and attitudes; (3) the family system accounts for more variance in child learning than does the system of the school; (4) the interface of family systems with relevant school systems is not, overall, a highly efficient one in the United States at this time, and this reality is counterproductive to the role of parent as educator as well as to the role of teacher as educator; (5) programs facilitating parent-as-educator at the preschool level result in substantial improvement in children's cognitive functioning, and this improvement appears to be cumulative with lasting impact; (6) the parent's role immediately following birth and throughout the first three years is highly important, and gains from parent/child programs are more evident in the early years; (7) programs which facilitate parent-as-educator functions are beneficial to all the children in the family and not just the target child; (8) programs which facilitate parent-as-educator functions can have a positive impact on the parent's affective and cognitive functioning. (A list of parent/child projects and research studies is included in the appendix.) (Author/SS)