Theoretical models and empirical studies suggest that parental involvement and parenting practices are important for adolescents' academic achievement. However, the picture is complicated, and how parents choose to be involved at different ages of the child is critical for how parental involvement is related to students' academic achievement. Furthermore, populations from different cultural backgrounds need to be studied. This chapter lays out the agenda for the rest of the book, presenting an overview of research on parenting and students' academic achievement, as well as presenting the Parenting Across Cultures project, a longitudinal study of mothers, fathers, and children in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. These nine countries are the focus of the school-system and country-specific studies in the chapters that follow.