THE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF THE SOUTHWEST EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY'S MATHEMATICS PROJECT ARE PRESENTED IN THIS MONOGRAPH. IN THIS FIRST PHASE OF THE PROJECT, AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO IDENTIFY UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF MEXICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES THAT MAY AFFECT THE EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN. DATA WERE COLLECTED AND ANALYZED FOR 263 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (GRADES 7-12) IN A SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY. THE STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE REVEALED 9 INDEPENDENT FACTORS CHARACTERIZING THE EMPHASIS THAT PARENTS PLACE ON EDUCATION, THE LANGUAGE USED IN THE HOME, AND THE CHILD'S SELF-IMAGE AND ACADEMIC MOTIVATION. THE RESULTS OF A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS SUGGEST THAT MEXICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN MAY NOT HAVE AS MUCH CONFIDENCE IN THEIR ABILITY TO SUCCEED IN SCHOOL AS THEIR CLASSMATES. FOR EXAMPLE, ACHIEVEMENT IN BOTH ENGLISH AND MATHEMATICS APPEARS TO BE HIGHLY AFFECTED BY THE CHILD'S CONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITY TO SUCCEED IN SCHOOL AND BY THE EMPHASIS THE PARENTS PLACE ON EDUCATION, WHILE HIS MASTERY OF ENGLISH APPEARS TO BE INFLUENCED BY THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN THE HOME AND BY THE FATHER'S EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND. IN CONTRAST, ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS APPEARS TO BE RELATED IN THE STUDENT'S DESIRE TO ACHIEVE IN SCHOOL. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY SUGGEST THAT IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO IMPROVE THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF MANY MEXICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN BY PROPER DESIGN OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. (ES)