This book gathers facts about Hispanic families in the United States and describes the Intercultural Development Research Association's distilled experience involving families in their children's educations. Researchers conducted focused interviews with a variety of Hispanic parents, and asked a school administrator and a principal who have significant involvement of Hispanic parents in their schools to share what they have learned and what they think remains to be done. The guide contains three main sections. The first section, "Investigating the Status Quo," provides statistics on Hispanic youth, particularly dropout rates, and introduces the topics of family involvement and successful school programs. The next section, "Knowing Hispanic Families in Your Community," gives a broad introduction to Hispanic families in the United States. Besides supplying demographic information, this section also describes Hispanic families in terms of cultural and religious values, socioeconomic difficulties, and the school-family relationship. The third and last main section, "Defining a Meaningful Program for Hispanic Family Involvement," discusses the theory and practice of a program to involve Hispanic parents in schools and their children's educations, how to assess the readiness of the school for family involvement, and what to consider in initiating, or expanding and strengthening family involvement. Three short supplementory sections provide (1) a discussion of the importance of outreach and language in communications with Hispanic parents; (2) interviews with school administrators about Hispanic family involvement; and (3) comments by Hispanic parents "in their own words." A list of 62 resources for further reading is included. (KS)