A study examined the relationship between the attendance of parents of low-achieving students at scheduled school meetings and conferences and student performance in reading and language arts. Data were gathered from 73 Chapter 1 schools in the Dallas Independent School District. Variables used were the performance of Chapter 1 students in reading and language arts as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, parent attendance rates, school size, percentage of students from low-income families, and the percentage of minority students. A related study used parent attendance rates at the annual Chapter 1 parent meeting to indicate the level of parental involvement. Results of correlational analyses and the related study indicated that even though parental attendance rates are encouraged by local educational agencies and approved by the state education department as an indicator of success, no evidence was found to suggest that high parent attendance rate is directly related to improvement in student reading performance. Findings suggest that: (1) school district administrators and instructional leaders should reexamine the focus of their parent involvement programs; (2) further research is needed for examining the effectiveness of substantial parental involvement approaches to determine what types of activities have a positive impact on student learning; and (3) coordination between Chapter 1 instruction and parental involvement programs is important. (Contains 11 references and 3 tables of data.) (RS)