ABSTRACT
Many Mexican American parents have sacrificed, or seen their parents sacrifice, their most fundamental human needs for the promise of a better life for their children. These parents are perceived as not caring about their children's education because they do not volunteer at their child's school. Parental involvement is defined as the ways that parents support and facilitate their children's educational experiences. Because parental involvement is a broad construct that crosses disciplinary boundaries, scholars have identified multiple dimensions and categories to codify its complexity. Cultural models are theoretical constructs composed of interconnected ideas, beliefs, goals, and practices shared by members of a cultural group that guide their actions and interpretations, and offer a means of mapping the complexity and interrelatedness of various ethnic groups' and practices with regard to childrearing and education. Parental academic socialization in a specific cultural or ethnic group from a cultural model's perspective provides insights into how goals and practices are uniquely related in that group.
