in addition to family structure maternal education and employment as well as household socioeconomic status are robust predictors of early learning outcomes it is very difficult to determine the unique impact of any of these specific features of the economic and social environment on children s outcomes duncan magnuson and votrubadrzal x however a large body of nonexperimental research suggests each of these factors is important maternal education is a powerful predictor of early learning outcomes on average more highlyeducated mothers spend more time working than mothers with less education they also on average spend more time with their children cameiro meghir and parey issi duncan magnuson and votrubadrzal i