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Digest of Education Statistics
1998 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 27. -  Teachers' perceptions about serious problems in their schools, by type and control of school: 1990-91 and 1993-94
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |      Percent of teachers indicating item is a serious problem
                                   |_________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |            Public school teachers          |           Private school teachers
                                   |____________________________________________|____________________________________________
                                   |1990-91|                 1993-94            |1990-91|                 1993-94
           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 .................|  11.2 | 10.5 |      6.3 |    18.3 |    7.8 |   3.4 |  2.6 |      1.8 |     4.3 |    2.6
Student absenteeism ...............|  14.1 | 14.4 |      7.2 |    27.1 |   15.0 |   2.6 |  2.2 |      0.8 |     5.2 |    2.7
Teacher absenteeism ...............|   1.6 |  1.5 |      1.3 |     1.9 |    2.0 |   0.7 |  0.8 |      0.7 |     1.2 |    0.9
Students cutting class ............|   4.6 |  5.1 |      1.3 |    11.9 |    4.6 |   0.7 |  0.7 |      0.2 |     2.4 |    0.7
Physical conflicts among students .|   6.5 |  8.2 |      7.8 |     8.6 |    8.1 |   1.1 |  1.5 |      0.9 |     2.1 |    2.1
                                   |       |      |          |         |        |       |      |          |         |
Robbery or theft ..................|   3.4 |  4.1 |      3.0 |     5.8 |    3.6 |   0.8 |  0.8 |      0.4 |     1.4 |    1.1
Vandalism of school property ......|   5.4 |  6.7 |      5.2 |     9.0 |    5.9 |   0.9 |  1.2 |      0.9 |     2.0 |    1.2
Student pregnancy .................|   6.4 |  7.3 |      1.1 |    18.4 |   10.1 |   0.3 |  0.4 |      0.2 |     1.1 |    0.4
Student use of alcohol ............|   8.2 |  9.3 |      1.6 |    23.1 |   14.2 |   2.4 |  3.1 |      0.3 |    11.0 |    2.7
Student drug abuse ................|   4.2 |  5.7 |      1.0 |    14.2 |    7.1 |   0.5 |  1.3 |      0.2 |     4.0 |    1.4
                                   |       |      |          |         |        |       |      |          |         |
Student possession of weapons .....|   1.2 |  2.8 |      1.2 |     5.6 |    2.7 |   0.1 |  0.3 |      0.2 |     0.6 |    0.3
Verbal abuse of teachers ..........|   7.5 | 11.1 |      8.6 |    14.8 |   14.3 |   1.7 |  2.3 |      0.7 |     2.8 |    4.4
Student disrespect for teachers ...|  13.0 | 18.5 |     15.3 |    23.6 |   20.3 |   2.9 |  3.4 |      2.2 |     4.2 |    4.7
Students dropping out .............|   6.3 |  5.8 |      1.2 |    14.1 |    7.7 |   0.2 |  0.6 |      0.3 |     1.3 |    0.7
Student apathy ....................|  20.6 | 23.6 |     15.6 |    38.0 |   28.9 |   4.1 |  4.5 |      2.2 |     9.7 |    5.1
                                   |       |      |          |         |        |       |      |          |         |
Lack of academic challenge ........|   5.7 |  6.5 |      4.2 |    10.4 |    9.9 |   1.3 |  1.5 |      1.0 |     2.5 |    1.6
Lack of parental involvement ......|  25.4 | 27.6 |     23.0 |    34.5 |   35.5 |   4.3 |  4.0 |      2.8 |     7.1 |    4.7
Parental alcoholism/drug abuse ....|  12.0 | 13.1 |     12.9 |    12.3 |   18.7 |   2.2 |  2.6 |      1.6 |     4.2 |    3.4
Poverty ...........................|  17.1 | 19.5 |     20.8 |    15.9 |   26.8 |   2.0 |  2.7 |      2.2 |     3.2 |    3.0
Racial tension ....................|   3.8 |  5.1 |      4.0 |     6.7 |    5.5 |   0.7 |  0.9 |      0.6 |     1.7 |    0.8
Students come unprepared to learn .|   --- | 28.8 |     24.3 |    36.0 |   30.9 |   --- |  4.1 |      2.6 |     7.6 |    4.6
___________________________________|_______|______|__________|_________|________|_______|______|__________|_________|________

---Data not available.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Schools and Staffing Survey," 1990-91 and 1993-94. (This table was prepared September 1996.)


1998 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest