After many efforts to lift the achievement of its high numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students, a district in Massachusetts realized that the missing link was parent involvement. In this article, the author describes a program the district created to improve relationships between teachers and families and the enormous difference…

Based on a participant-observer's 14-month experience in the day care setting, this paper describes the curriculum implementation in an inner-city day care center--called "Banza" for purposes of this paper--in which both students and teachers come from working class or poor, African American, Caribbean, or Latino families. Through its…