Introduction Psychologists have for a long time been interested in finding out the factors that affect that affect academic achievement as a child undergoes the various stages of development. Most researchers have pointed out to social support, classroom instruction, personal characteristics, and academic achievement, among others, as the main factors that heavily impact a child’s educational achievement (Zsolnai, 2002, Georgiou, 2002, Sumari, Hussin, & Siraj, 2010). In general, factors affecting educational achievement have been divided into three: personal causal factors, academic causal factors, and personal causal factors (Sumari et al, 2010). Peer influence and parental involvement have featured prominently as the leading causes of either success or failure in a student’s academic performance (Epple & Romano, 1998, Zimmer & Toma, 2000). Peer groups have been found to play a notable role in academic performance, particularly through daily interactions between two or more students over many years (Zimmer & Toma, 2000). Parental involvement in their child’s academic work has been found to play a significant in the outcome of their children’s academic scores or performance (Zsolnai, 2002). Factors such as parental expectation and attribution, home environment, discipline, parent-child relationship, and the time spent between a parent and the child have been shown to considerably affect performance in school (Zsolnai, 2002, Georgiou, 2002). Aim The purpose of this literature review is to find out the factors that affect academic performance among children, the paper will particularly focus on the contribution made by parents and peers towards a student’s success or failure in academic work. The paper will also present theories attributed to these factors and discuss their relevance to the study. Significance The significance of this research is to discuss how parental involvement and peer group influence affect children academic achievement (Georgiou, 2002). This literature review will go a long way into determining the strength of parental involvement and peer influence as compared to other factors that have been known to affect academic achievement as outlined above. This study will help both parents and students alike in devising strategies that can help in improving the latter’s academic performance. The question of factors that affect academic performance among children is very pertinent since a person’s performance in school goes a long way into determining their future. Aspects such as occupation, pay, living standard, productivity, and so on, are strongly linked to academic achievement. Hence, this study is very important. There is a strong belief that a relationship exists between parental intervention and academic achievement, and between peer influence and academic achievement. However, a stronger influence is likely to exist under parental intervention as compared to peer influence owing to the level of influence parents have over their children. Literature review Factors affecting academic achievement are centered on achievement goal theory and approaches. There are many factors that influence academic achievement in students, they include; parents, family background, pee