This article presents an analysis of a Latino parent group and an African American parent group in California who struggled to engage with a contentious urban school reform. Using Bourdieu's cultural capital framework, the study focuses on the institutional responses to parent involvement, and the inequality in access that occurs as capital from different parent groups is validated or dismissed. Findings suggest that researchers also focus on school district responses to parents' efforts at engagement and help highlight institutional obstacles. (Contains 1 table and 5 notes.)