In this paper, logistic response models of the effects of parental socioeconomic characteristics and family structure on the probability of making selected school transitions for white American males are estimated by maximum likelihood. Transition levels examined include: (l) completion of elementary school; (2) attendance at high school; (3) graduation from high school; (4) college attendance; (5) college graduation; and (6) graduate level education. It is shown that, as a consequence of the pattern of differential attrition, parental socioeconomic effects decline sharply from the earliest school transitions to the latest. Implications of differential socioeconomic background effects over schooling levels for understanding changes in level and distribution of schooling are discussed. (Author/GC)