As part of a larger, on-going study conducted through the Center for Child Development and Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, this paper explores the influence of the home environment on children's psychological functioning in school and on their academic achievement. Data were obtained on home experience, classroom social competence and achievement measurements for 96 elementary school children in grades one through six. Measures of academic achievement were obtained from the standardized Science Research Associates test series for reading, language and mathematics. The 23 item Classroom Social Competence Scale (CSCS), reflecting the item content of the Kohn and Rosman (1972) Social Competence Scale was designed for this study to assess the children's classroom social competence, along the behavioral dimensions of withdrawal (non-participation and aggression), disruption, and task orientation. The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), designed by Caldwell and Bradley (in press), was used to measure the quality of stimulation, and the social, emotional and cognitive support available for the child's development. Multivariate multiple procedures were used to test the existence of associations between the three variables. Results revealed significant relationships across the three sets of variables. Patterns of these relationships suggest that early experience prepares the child to meet not only intellectual performance requirements but also social performance requirements. (Author/MP)