An ethnographic study examined the attitudes of Chinese American families toward success in school and learning. The first cohort of 5 families stayed in the study for 3 years, while the second cohort of 5 families stayed for 2 years. All the first cohort children and two from the second cohort were from the same Boston (Massachusetts) school. The other children were from suburban schools. The home language was exclusively English in only three families. The families exhibited three major patterns of support for education. Pattern 1 was characteristic of families with at least one parent born and educated in the United States. These families were familiar with U.S. schools and felt themselves secure in school or career. Pattern 2 families were moderately secure and moderately acculturated, while Pattern 3 families were tenuously secure in the U.S. culture and less familiar with schools. Parents who felt less secure about their status in the United States were much more deliberate in their efforts to ensure their children's academic achievement, but less likely to participate in the schools directly. To see if these findings were applicable to a larger sample, a survey was sent to 97 Chinese American families in an urban public school; 87 questionnaires were retained for analysis. In general, findings paralleled those of the ethnographic study. Both studies indicate that the more acculturated the parents are, the more directly and actively they are involved in the schools. Eight appendixes present demographic information and survey instruments and cover letters. (Contains 8 tables, 1 appendix table, and 23 references.) (SLD)