This mixed-methods study explored cultural models of parent-school involvement. African American, Caribbean, and Hispanic parents, along with teachers, were recruited from an urban school district. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol based on Joyce Epstein's (1995) framework for parent-school involvement, and their responses were thematically coded. Statistical and qualitative analyses of responses revealed significant group differences in ideas about involvement and education across the domains of parenting, communicating, and learning at home, but not for volunteering. The findings suggest that conventional beliefs and practices of parent--school involvement in the U.S. are not universal among parents of different cultural groups, and discrepancies between parents' and teachers' ideas about involvement may therefore emerge as well. The implications of these findings for schools' efforts to involve parents are discussed.