With the publication of his latest book about education reform, “Maximizing Intelligence,” SPP Professor David Armor is attracting the attention of top education policy makers and shakers.

Robert Lerner, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics in the Department of Education, invited him to speak on Oct. 28, and the Heritage Foundation hosted him on November 10.

During the appearances, Armor discussed how policy makers could prevent children from falling behind in school “The findings of the book say a lot about the causes of the achievement gap and suggest some policy options we should take for closing the gap,” he said.

Armor also told his audiences that “family factors” play a larger role than schools do in a child’s educational success. “My research reminds everybody how hard it is to change achievement once a child gets to school at age 5,” he said.

According to Armor, the top three “family factors” that influence a child’s success in school include the parents’ IQ scores, the time parents spend providing instruction or cognitive stimulation to their children (such as by reading books), and the time parents spend nurturing their children. Other factors include family income; family structure (whether the child comes from a one- or two-parent home); the number of children in the home; nutrition (Breastfeeding can add two points to a child’s IQ); birth weight; and the age of the new mother (Children of teenage mothers tend to do worse in school).