This guide for Hispanic American parents offers practical advice on how to help their children succeed and how to improve their children's schools. Education is important because in today's service and technically oriented economy, education means the difference between a well-paying, stable job and a low-paying unstable job. In the next 10 years, Hispanic Americans will make up 15 percent of new job seekers and two-thirds of the new jobs will require a high school diploma while one-third of the new jobs will require a college degree. However, over one-third of Hispanic Americans drop out of high school and only about 12 percent earn a college degree. Even for those students who finish school, it is important to keep learning new skills because the world keeps changing. Labeling a child as "at risk" of dropping out on the basis of his home background results in blaming the victim and does nothing to help the child. Parents and schools can work together to improve the educational experiences of all students. The following steps to parent participation are outlined in the form of pointers addressed directly to parents: (1) attend to your child's basic health and nutritional needs and help with homework; (2) participate in school events and parent-teacher conferences; (3) volunteer to work in the school as a teacher's aide, a community liaison, or a planner of special events; and (4) become an advocate for school improvement by joining or starting a parent group. Many schools already have some type of parent committee operating. Sometimes, however, Latino parents may not feel comfortable in these groups or the group may meet at a time when it is impossible for them to attend. In that case, chances are good that other Latino parents feel the same way, and suggestions are offered for such parents to start a Latino subgroup or an entirely new group of Latino parents. A list of parent groups and lists of discussion questions are included. A list of 13 references and a brief description of ASPIRA are appended. (FMW)