My reporting suggests that many of the elements fostering children’s academic success have roots outside of school—and that if America wants to help teachers, it will have to do a better job of supporting parents. A child’s education begins the moment they are born, Dana Suskind, a founder and co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago and the author of Parent Nation, told me. As caregivers, parents are expected to do a lot to support their children’s education: drop them off and pick them up, buy supplies, attend meetings with teachers, manage the logistics of extracurriculars and sports, help with homework.