The study described in this paper attempted to assist low achieving elementary school (grades 2-4) students in a black rural school district by providing free training to parents and by increasing the number of volunteers in the children's classrooms. Students scoring in the bottom quartile on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills were identified and their parents were contacted. Few parents completed the training offered to them, but those who did reported positive attitudes toward the program. Furthermore, teachers whose classroom volunteers regularly attended the training sessions developed more positive attitudes toward the use of volunteers. Most parents, however, refused to participate in the program, saying that they believed that their children did not need remediation. Evidence indicates that the school's nonobjective reporting of students' progress to parents created such beliefs. (Author/GC)