Strategies to involve parents in the schooling of their children, especially parents of economically or educationally disadvantaged youngsters, are generally either advisory or collaborative. Advisory strategies structure parental involvement through councils at the school or district level. Collaborative strategies pursue various methods for enhancing home/school cooperation, with either school-based or home-based methods. This paper discusses these two strategies and their rationales. Studies of the involvement techniques indicate that school-based strategies have limited direct value for low income parents, whereas home-based strategies such as parent tutoring, seem to yield positive outcomes for all participants. In developing policy, the paper considers the following three broad questions about parent involvement: (1) Does it work? (2) Should it be a policy priority? And, (3) is it a feasible target for policy? The success of parent involvement efforts depend to a large extent on teachers' and administrators' believing that they will succeed. The paper concludes with guidelines for parent involvement policies. Recommended are policies which have an element of pressure, based on the incentives, values, and priorities that influence the behavior of teachers and administrators. A list of references is appended. (PS)