A study using the 1980 High School and Beyond senior cohort was undertaken to assess the relative impact of socioeconomic status (SES), parental attention, mother's working patterns, and family structure on student achievement. More specifically, this report describes the relationship between educational attainment and the components of the SES index as used in the National Longitudinal Surveys conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Findings demonstrate the pervasive importance of parental education and family affluence. These factors were key to students' postsecondary attainment, even when aspects of home environment were taken into account. Home environment factors were less important overall, and many were found to have no independent influence on educational attainment. Only parental involvement during high school was of significant impact when social background factors were controlled, although students living without either parent had significantly lower attainment compared to others with otherwise similar backgrounds. These preliminary results do indicate that there may be interaction effects between parental involvement and social background as well. (TJH)