The relationships between early reading achievement, oral language ability, and the home were studied in a group of 543 school‐entry age children. Using hierarchical multiple regression it was found that socioeconomic status was associated with both reading achievement and oral language ability. However, this association occurred largely because socioeconomic status was associated with educational processes in the home which contribute more directly to early achievement. In addition home educational processes were found to contribute to early reading achievement primarily by providing oral language skills and to a lesser extent by providing specific reading skills. The inadequacy of using socioeconomic status to investigate the relationship between the home and school achievement was discusse