A study examined differences between cultural models and educational strategies of three minority groups (African Americans, Chinese Americans, and Mexican American/Latino) to help explain the differences in school performance. Data also provide the first large scale test of J. Ogbu's theory of these school performance differences. Surveys were administered to 2,245 minority students in grades 5 through 12 in 16 schools in the Oakland school district, California. The theory proposes that differences among ethnic groups depend upon their terms of incorporation into the United States--"involuntary minorities" were incorporated against their will through slavery or conquest, while "voluntary minorities" chose to come to the United States. Pairwise comparisons were made between African Americans and Chinese Americans, and between Mexican Americans/Latinos and Chinese Americans. Results indicated that voluntary minorities considered education to be an important route to making it in society; were less concerned with prejudice and discrimination; were willing to conform to the dominant society's norms in order to succeed; did not fear that crossing cultural boundaries would harm their social identity; conformed to the expectations that schools have of good students. Results indicated that the educational model for the involuntary African American students was ambivalent--they reported ambivalent educational strategies which involved claims of parental support and high aspirations among both students and parents; exaggerated claims of school success; and reported less effort than the Chinese Americans. (Contains an illustration of Mexican descent population in the United States.) (RS)