Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 73. Teachers' perceptions about serious problems in their schools, by type and control of school: 1993-94 and 1999-2000

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |                          Percent of teachers indicating item is a serious problem
                                   |_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |            Public school teachers                    |           Private school teachers
                                   |______________________________________________________|______________________________________________________
                                   |1993-94|                         1999-2000            |1993-94|                      1999-2000
           Problem area            |_______|______________________________________________|_______|______________________________________________
                                   |       |          |Elementary |Secondary  |Combined   |       |          |Elementary |Secondary  |Combined
                                   | Total |Total     |schools    |schools    |schools    | Total |Total     |schools    |schools    |schools
___________________________________|_______|__________|___________|___________|___________|_______|__________|___________|___________|___________
                 1                 |   2   |  3       |  4        |  5        |  6        |   7   |  8       |  9        |  10       |  11
___________________________________|_______|__________|___________|___________|___________|_______|__________|___________|___________|___________
Student tardiness .................|  10.5 |10.2 (0.2)|  6.5 (0.3)| 17.4 (0.4)|  8.4 (0.5)|   2.6 | 2.9 (0.2)|  2.0 (0.2)|  4.7 (0.6)|  3.2 (0.4)
Student absenteeism ...............|  14.4 |13.9 (0.3)|  7.9 (0.4)| 25.3 (0.4)| 15.8 (0.9)|   2.2 | 2.5 (0.2)|  0.8 (0.1)|  5.8 (0.7)|  3.3 (0.5)
Teacher absenteeism ...............|   1.5 | 2.2 (0.1)|  1.8 (0.2)|  3.1 (0.2)|  2.4 (0.2)|   0.8 | 0.8 (0.1)|  0.4 (0.1)|  1.1 (0.2)|  1.1 (0.3)
Students cutting class ............|   5.1 | 4.7 (0.1)|  0.9 (0.1)| 12.3 (0.3)|  5.2 (0.4)|   0.7 | 0.8 (0.1)|  0.4 (0.1)|  1.9 (0.5)|  0.9 (0.2)
Physical conflicts among students .|   8.2 | 4.8 (0.2)|  5.2 (0.3)|  3.8 (0.2)|  6.3 (0.7)|   1.5 | 1.0 (0.2)|  0.6 (0.1)|  1.2 (0.4)|  1.5 (0.4)
                                   |       |          |           |           |           |       |          |           |           |
Robbery or theft ..................|   4.1 | 2.4 (0.1)|  1.9 (0.2)|  3.3 (0.2)|  2.9 (0.3)|   0.8 | 0.9 (0.1)|  0.5 (0.1)|  2.0 (0.4)|  0.8 (0.2)
Vandalism of school property ......|   6.7 | 3.4 (0.2)|  2.7 (0.2)|  4.8 (0.2)|  4.2 (0.5)|   1.2 | 0.7 (0.1)|  0.7 (0.2)|  0.9 (0.2)|  0.6 (0.2)
Student pregnancy .................|   7.3 | 3.7 (0.1)|  0.4 (0.1)|  9.9 (0.3)|  6.5 (0.5)|   0.4 | 0.4 (0.1)|  0.2 (0.1)|  1.3 (0.5)|  0.2 (0.1)
Student use of alcohol ............|   9.3 | 7.4 (0.1)|  0.8 (0.1)| 19.9 (0.3)| 12.9 (0.8)|   3.1 | 3.1 (0.2)|  0.3 (0.1)| 12.3 (0.7)|  2.4 (0.3)
Student drug abuse ................|   5.7 | 6.0 (0.1)|  0.8 (0.1)| 15.9 (0.3)| 11.1 (0.8)|   1.3 | 1.8 (0.1)|  0.3 (0.1)|  6.9 (0.7)|  1.3 (0.2)
                                   |       |          |           |           |           |       |          |           |           |
Student possession of weapons .....|   2.8 | 0.8 (0.1)|  0.4 (0.1)|  1.5 (0.1)|  1.6 (0.2)|   0.3 | 0.3 (0.1)|  0.2 (0.1)|  0.6 (0.3)|  0.2 (0.1)
Verbal abuse of teachers ..........|  11.1 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |   2.3 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  ---
Student disrespect for teachers ...|  18.5 |17.2 (0.3)| 14.6 (0.5)| 22.0 (0.4)| 20.9 (1.1)|   3.4 | 3.8 (0.3)|  2.2 (0.3)|  5.4 (0.7)|  5.3 (0.6)
Students dropping out .............|   5.8 | 4.6 (0.1)|  0.8 (0.1)| 11.5 (0.3)|  9.2 (0.7)|   0.6 | 0.5 (0.1)|  0.2 (0.1)|  1.2 (0.5)|  0.5 (0.2)
Student apathy ....................|  23.6 |20.6 (0.3)| 13.8 (0.4)| 33.5 (0.4)| 29.4 (1.0)|   4.5 | 4.3 (0.3)|  1.9 (0.3)|  9.3 (0.8)|  5.3 (0.6)
                                   |       |          |           |           |           |       |          |           |           |
Lack of academic challenge ........|   6.5 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |   1.5 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  ---
Lack of parental involvement ......|  27.6 |23.7 (0.4)| 21.1 (0.6)| 28.3 (0.5)| 31.1 (0.8)|   4.0 | 3.4 (0.3)|  1.9 (0.3)|  5.3 (0.8)|  4.5 (0.6)
Parental alcoholism/drug abuse ....|  13.1 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |   2.6 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  ---
Poverty ...........................|  19.5 |19.2 (0.4)| 20.4 (0.6)| 16.5 (0.4)| 25.6 (1.0)|   2.7 | 2.1 (0.2)|  1.7 (0.3)|  3.2 (0.6)|  2.1 (0.4)
Racial tension ....................|   5.1 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |   0.9 | ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  --- |  ---  ---
Students come unprepared to learn .|  28.8 |29.5 (0.4)| 26.6 (0.5)| 34.9 (0.4)| 35.8 (1.1)|   4.1 | 4.9 (0.4)|  2.7 (0.3)| 10.2 (1.0)|  5.5 (0.7)
___________________________________|_______|__________|___________|___________|___________|_______|__________|___________|___________|___________

---Not available.

NOTE: Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), "Public Teacher Questionnaire," 1993-94 and 1999-2000. "Private Teacher Questionnaire," 1993-94 and 1999-2000, and "Charter Teacher Questionnaire," 1999-2000." (This table was prepared July 2002.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest