Parents have the first and most significant influence on their children. For this reason it is necessary to work with them in every school. Parents and teachers should share their roles in the child´s education in order to achieve the best possible learning outcomes (Henderson & Berla, 1995; Henderson & Mapp, 2002, PTA, 1998, among others). The sharing process and the action of parent participation in school life take place in a multicultural and international society and it will bring an education with quality based on a process of dialogue between schools, families and cultures. Parent Associations (PA) have a significant role in this process because they are organizations that seek to provide a better education for every child and to do this focus their efforts on improvement of the school.

It is particularly important how family involvement becomes a lifestyle, a mutual cooperation between parents and teachers as we see in the study of Olivos (2010) or in the publications of the Department of Education of the United States (2001). According to National PTA (1998:4), several studies have shown that the involvement of parents and families increases the achievements and success of children and that students benefit when schools and families work closely and cooperatively (Patrikakou, Weissberg, Redding and Walberg, 2005:4). We should note that this family involvement should be encouraged by the school, its parent association and the entire faculty in order to create new strategies to help parents and family members to feel themselves as an important part of the educational process of their child and the school community.

This study seeks to understand how to improve the participation of families in schools through Parent Associations in a multicultural context. To do this we assess the different types of positions that parents assume in PA organizations and the perceptions of them from the point of view of parents that occupy leadership positions and parents who do not. We also consider how PA leaders develop their responsibilities. Also the use of multicultural activities in parent organizations is compared in PA in Granada (Spain) and in New York (EEUU). As the United States has a longer tradition of PA organizations and success with the education of generations of immigrants and their youth, this study also compares the participation of parents from different cultures in positions of leadership and non leadership in PA organizations in both cities. The reason for this study is the idea that the more communication and connection between school and home, the higher the student achievement.

Finally, we should notice that these inclusive practices allow the enrichment of the school as a whole and, for this reason the cultural diversity of families develops the creation of a new world of learning. In the case of students, we could think on the enormous social and academic growth that occurs for all of them when the curriculum includes and reflects the contributions of the diverse cultures that surround them. In a study about desegregation conducted by Teachers College (New York) and University of California (Los Angeles), the researchers felt how important it was for children to be exposed to different cultures, so that urged enforcement legislation to consider racial diversity as one of the measures for "good" public school (Weels, Holme, Revilla and Atanda, 2004:7).

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