Recently, school-based initiatives across the country have sought to promote the academic success of Latino children through programs that teach parents “how to work with the education system to make it effective for their child”(Mijares, quoted in Canto, 1998). Staff see the potential of their programs as stemming from the cultural sensitivity of both content and personnel. These programs can help Latino parents learn about the goals, expectations, and practices of the school system, and teachers, administrators, and staff-who are primarily of European American ancestry-can learn about the goals, expectations, values, and practices of Latino families (Cooper et al., 1994; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). One important contribution researchers can make to these school-based initiatives is to help replace what are often limited, stereotypic, and static perceptions with greater understanding of the dynamic nature of Latino parents' beliefs, goals, and guidance. Such understanding can strengthen partnerships among diverse families, teachers, administrators, and students. Research has shown that Latino students' cultural values are resources in their achievement (Suarez-Orozco, 1995; Valenzuela & Dornbusch, 1994). It has also been shown that immigrant Latino parents hold high aspirations for their children's educational attainment (Cooper et al., 1994; Goldenberg & Gallimore, 1995; Henderson, 1997). Latino parents' beliefs about their children's education, however, are inextricably bound to more basic beliefs about children's moral development (Delgado-Gaitán, 1992; Reese, Balzano, Gallimore, & Goldenberg, 1995; Valdés, 1996). Reese and her colleagues carried out extensive interviews with immigrant Latino parents of young elementary