After many efforts to lift the achievement of its high numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students, a district in Massachusetts realized that the missing link was parent involvement. In this article, the author describes a program the district created to improve relationships between teachers and families and the enormous difference it has made in each side's understanding of the other. She discusses the Parent Partnership for Achieving Literacy (PAL) program. The program employed a dual approach to increase the overlap of school, home, and community influences by building bridges between mainstream teachers and culturally and linguistically diverse families. Among other things, the author emphasizes accessing and making use of local knowledge, as well as how the program connected with families. (Contains 3 endnotes.)