In this paper, a former educator, now a family counselor traces the recent history of parent involvement programs and relates his experiences in developing a rationale and model for parents' involvement in their children's education. Since the 1950s, the mutual understanding between schools and families about their shared responsibility for education has eroded. High concentrations of poorer families in some urban and rural schools contain many parents with negative attitudes toward school or without the time or skills to help their children. In addition, the numbers, in all socioeconomic classes, of single parents and families with two fully employed parents have continued to grow. The "Great Society" programs of the 1960s and 1970s had little success in involving those parents whose children needed it most. In the 1980s, influenced by research confirming the importance of the home in school success, parent involvement efforts shifted their emphasis to specific parent behaviors in the home and the ways in which school could foster such behaviors. This paper recommends a task force approach in which teachers, parents, and community leaders act as facilitators to train and encourage parents to work with their children at home. This model can be successful if the school: (1) takes a proactive, positive attitude; (2) seeks parent input in planning and managing the program; (3) takes the program to the family in the home, neighborhood, or workplace; (4) focuses on home-based activities; and (5) respects family cultures and values. (SV)