Abstract: China's economy has entered a stage of high-quality development. Examining the effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) on academic achievement is beneficial for identifying the imbalanced and inadequate development in the field of basic education and providing empirical evidences for education policymaking on disadvantaged students and urban-rural education balance. Based on PISA2018 China sample data, family SES is significantly correlated with juvenile students' reading performance, and this correlation is the greatest among low SES students; compared with the SES at the individual level, the effects of school average SES on reading performance is obviously greater; among indicators of SES, father's occupational status and education level, as well as mother's occupational status make major contribution to reading performance. In the future, the government should further promote education equity, especially the targeted assistance for disadvantaged young students, and also strengthen the vocational education and training for their parents. In addition, it is advisable to improve the enrollment policy of primary and secondary schools, optimizing the structure of school students, so that disadvantaged students can have the opportunity to study in schools with higher average school SES.

Key words: PISA2018, family socioeconomic status, academic achievement, reading performance