A 4-year ethnographic study in Carpinteria, California, examined the school district's parental involvement activities for their effectiveness with lower-class Spanish-speaking parents. Research at three elementary schools included observations of traditional activities, such as parent-teacher conferences and open house, and non-conventional activities, such as the Bilingual Preschool Parent Involvement Program, as well as interviews with parent participants and nonparticipants, teachers, and administrators. Conventional avenues to parent involvement were closed to many parents because of their lack of cultural knowledge about schools' norms. In contrast, some non-conventional activities encouraged parent participation by being culturally responsive to the families' experiences and need to learn about the schools and by including parents in decision making. As a result of their active participation, some Hispanic parents organized themselves into a group in order to become more knowledgeable about the school system and parental rights and responsibilities. The "Comite de Padres Latinos" group (COPLA) engaged in collective "critical reflection" that was central to the empowerment process. The parents' awareness of their shared experience became the basis for collective action as they sought to establish a network of systematic linkages between the school and parents. Three power-based conceptualizations of parent involvement are defined based on conventional, non-conventional, and COPLA activities in Carpinteria. This report contains 24 references. (SV)