Many studies of educational outcomes collect data on the socioeconomic characteristics of parents from students, and not from the parents themselves. Nevertheless, students are often fallible informants of parental status factors. A series of distinct hierarchical measurement models were used to examine the structure of errors in high school seniors' reports of parental socioeconomic status and compare the extent of these reporting errors between blacks and whites. Using data from "High School and Beyond (HSB)," a longitudinal study of United States sophomores and seniors, the analysis estimated the accuracy of reports of parental traits across races for both parents and senior students, then considered the extent to which reports of students matched those of parents. Finally, and more restrictively, the analysis compared the reliabilities of data reported by black and white parents and students. It was found that the reliability coefficients for students were significantly smaller in value than the reports of parents, and a fairly large covariance existed between the students' reporting errors of mother's and father's education. The errors with which black students reported their parents' socioeconomic characteristics were significantly larger and reliability coefficients were lower than those of white students. (Author/CM)