This monograph studies the relationship between parental attitudes and student achievement in inner-city schools, and compares parental and teacher attitudes regarding parental involvement in elementary education. Seventy-one teachers from two inner-city elementary schools in Memphis (Tennessee) and 30 parents of students from one school responded to a parent-teacher attitudinal questionnaire. Parental attitude changes as a result of a treatment designed to increase parent participation in the schools are measured for a subgroup of 13 parents before and after their children were taught English and mathematics. Both teachers and parents believe that teachers want parental involvement in education. Teachers rated parents' educational expectations and parents' ability to communicate these expectations to their children significantly lower than parents did, suggesting that teachers feel parents do not provide enough encouragement. There is a relatively low correlation between student gains in English and mathematics and parental attitude changes, indicating that the relationship between these factors is not significant. The study suggests that teachers and parents might benefit from training to enhance understanding and parental involvement. Statistical data are provided in four tables. Seven references are listed. An appendix contains the questionnaire answered by teachers and parents. (SLD)