Members of minority groups make up 63 percent of the county's students but only 22 percent of the county's teachers. That equation, experts said, needs to improve. The public doesn't seem to agree. Only 21 percent say students would benefit from having teachers of their own racial or ethnic backgrounds. The county's diversity also has prompted school officials to offer special programs hoping that they would lead to more parent involvement.
Some districts teach after-hours English classes, and others teach computer skills.
Sometimes it's the school administrators, and not the parents, who are learning about a new culture. When the Asian-American population began to increase at Saratoga High School, Principal Kevin Skelly was puzzled by the lack of parental involvement. He spoke to a few parents and learned that in certain Asian cultures, some parents respect a teacher's authority to the point where communication occurs only when the child is performing poorly. The information you receive online from Mercury Center is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright-protected material.