The intention of this paper is to present findings from a study of parental involvement in lower secondary school in Norway. Pupils' backgrounds and home environments are important factors for explaining differences in achievements among pupils. A supportive environment outside of school can contribute to enhance the quality of learning inside school, and parental involvement is an important factor in this regard. Thus, parental involvement can be an important tool for improving schools, the learning environment and pupils' achievements, and therefore knowledge about parental involvement is important. However, findings from this study demonstrate that the degree and quality of parental involvement varies between different groups of parents, and in the paper these differences are discussed in connection to the relationship between school/teachers and parents' social and cultural capital.The data presented in the paper are drawn from a study conducted in 8 schools in Norway. The schools were selected in order to maximise the variation in the following independent variables: school size, schools' location in relation to industrial structure, geographical location, degree of urbanism/ruralism, social class environments (schools dominated by middle class versus working class pupils), and degree of non-native versus ethnic Norwegian pupils in the pupil populations. In these schools all ninth grade teachers plus a selection of ninth grade parents and pupils where interviewed. Surveys were also conducted among all ninth grade teachers, all ninth grade parents and pupils.The teachers were asked questions concerning how they experience parental involvement in lower secondary school, and what expectations they have. They were also asked what they consider to be their responsibilities concerning educating children, and what they regard as the responsibilities of the parents. The parents were asked corresponding questions about their expectations to and experiences with parental involvement in school. They were also asked to what extent they feel that they can influence the school, and what they regard as theirs versus the schools' responsibilities.The results of the data analyses indicate that different groups of parents have different expectations towards and experience parental involvement differently. The expectations and experiences of some groups of parents seem to be more in key with the expectations expressed by the teachers. Differences in cultural capital seem to be important in order to understand such differences, and the meetings that take place within the educational system between school and parents can therefore be seen as cultural meetings where different kinds of social and cultural capital are activated.