Table 68.

Teachers' perceptions about serious problems in their schools, by control and level of school: 1993–94, 1999–2000, and 2003–04

Problem area	Public school teachers											Private school teachers
	1993–94 total	1999–2000 total		2003–04								1993–94 total	1999–2000 total		2003–04
				Total		Elementary schools		Secondary schools		Combined schools					Total		Elementary schools		Secondary schools		Combined schools
1	2	3		4		5		6		7		8	9		10		11		12		13
	Percent of teachers indicating item is a serious problem
Student tardiness	10.5	10.2	(0.22)	13.8	(0.30)	9.8	(0.39)	23.1	(0.58)	10.8	(0.96)	2.6	2.9	(0.21)	2.9	(0.40)	2.1	(0.45)	5.0	(0.83)	2.8	(0.85)
Student absenteeism	14.4	13.9	(0.26)	13.2	(0.31)	8.3	(0.37)	23.7	(0.59)	12.9	(1.04)	2.2	2.5	(0.22)	1.9	(0.23)	0.9	(0.17)	4.0	(0.75)	2.2	(0.48)
Teacher absenteeism	1.5	2.2	(0.10)	1.1	(0.08)	0.9	(0.12)	1.7	(0.15)	0.7	(0.16)	0.8	0.8	(0.11)	0.3	(0.09)	0.2	(0.07)	0.5	(0.24)	0.3	(0.15)
Students cutting class	5.1	4.7	(0.12)	5.6	(0.23)	1.5	(0.17)	14.5	(0.59)	4.4	(0.55)	0.7	0.8	(0.12)	0.5	(0.11)	0.2	(0.07)	0.9	(0.36)	0.7	(0.28)
Physical conflicts among students	8.2	4.8	(0.19)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	1.5	1.0	(0.18)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Robbery or theft	4.1	2.4	(0.11)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	0.8	0.9	(0.11)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Vandalism of school property	6.7	3.4	(0.15)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	1.2	0.7	(0.11)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Student pregnancy	7.3	3.7	(0.12)	2.4	(0.12)	0.2	(0.06)	7.0	(0.34)	3.6	(0.49)	0.4	0.4	(0.09)	0.1	(0.05)	0.1	(0.04)	0.3	(0.19)	0.1	(0.05)
Student use of alcohol	9.3	7.4	(0.14)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	3.1	3.1	(0.16)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Student drug abuse	5.7	6.0	(0.11)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	1.3	1.8	(0.14)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Student possession of weapons	2.8	0.8	(0.06)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	0.3	0.3	(0.06)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Verbal abuse of teachers	11.1	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	2.3	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Student disrespect for teachers	18.5	17.2	(0.34)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	3.4	3.8	(0.31)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)	—	(†)
Students dropping out	5.8	4.6	(0.11)	3.3	(0.13)	0.3	(0.07)	9.6	(0.41)	4.3	(0.47)	0.6	0.5	(0.10)	0.3	(0.09)	0.2	(0.08)	0.5	(0.26)	0.3	(0.12)
Student apathy	23.6	20.6	(0.30)	16.6	(0.34)	9.9	(0.41)	30.4	(0.56)	19.5	(1.01)	4.5	4.3	(0.29)	3.1	(0.39)	1.4	(0.24)	6.6	(0.95)	3.6	(0.70)
Lack of parental involvement	27.6	23.7	(0.36)	21.6	(0.43)	19.3	(0.59)	26.3	(0.59)	22.7	(1.17)	4.0	3.4	(0.30)	2.5	(0.37)	1.6	(0.27)	3.6	(0.77)	3.2	(0.69)
Poverty	19.5	19.2	(0.43)	21.4	(0.46)	22.4	(0.65)	19.0	(0.57)	22.7	(1.31)	2.7	2.1	(0.21)	2.2	(0.26)	1.8	(0.31)	3.4	(0.78)	2.2	(0.49)
Students come unprepared to learn	28.8	29.5	(0.36)	26.8	(0.46)	23.7	(0.68)	33.5	(0.69)	26.1	(1.39)	4.1	4.9	(0.36)	3.5	(0.30)	2.1	(0.55)	6.8	(0.99)	3.9	(0.70)
	Percent of teachers indicating item happens daily
Physical conflicts among students	—	—	(†)	12.1	(0.29)	13.7	(0.43)	9.3	(0.38)	8.2	(0.95)	—	—	(†)	2.3	(0.33)	2.6	(0.58)	1.0	(0.35)	2.6	(0.64)
Robbery or theft	—	—	(†)	3.7	(0.17)	2.8	(0.22)	5.9	(0.24)	1.9	(0.40)	—	—	(†)	0.4	(0.10)	#	(†)	1.3	(0.40)	0.4	(0.22)
Vandalism of school property	—	—	(†)	3.6	(0.16)	2.5	(0.21)	6.3	(0.33)	2.7	(0.52)	—	—	(†)	0.5	(0.11)	0.1	(0.08)	0.8	(0.28)	0.8	(0.24)
Student use of alcohol	—	—	(†)	3.1	(0.10)	0.3	(0.07)	9.0	(0.28)	3.5	(0.45)	—	—	(†)	0.7	(0.17)	#	(†)	3.3	(0.86)	0.5	(0.21)
Student drug abuse	—	—	(†)	4.5	(0.14)	0.5	(0.11)	13.0	(0.35)	4.4	(0.51)	—	—	(†)	1.1	(0.26)	#	(†)	5.2	(1.31)	0.8	(0.36)
Student possession of weapons	—	—	(†)	0.5	(0.05)	0.1	(0.05)	1.2	(0.12)	0.3	(0.14)	—	—	(†)	#	(†)	#	(†)	#	(†)	0.1	(0.05)
Verbal abuse of teachers	—	—	(†)	11.8	(0.31)	9.3	(0.39)	17.1	(0.50)	12.7	(1.10)	—	—	(†)	2.4	(0.40)	1.2	(0.29)	4.0	(0.84)	3.3	(0.72)
Student disrespect for teachers	—	—	(†)	21.6	(0.45)	18.5	(0.61)	28.3	(0.58)	20.9	(1.08)	—	—	(†)	5.1	(0.37)	3.6	(0.56)	6.3	(1.05)	6.5	(1.12)
Racial tension	—	—	(†)	2.4	(0.15)	1.8	(0.19)	3.9	(0.22)	1.5	(0.28)	—	—	(†)	0.4	(0.08)	0.1	(0.06)	0.9	(0.36)	0.6	(0.20)

—Not available. † Not applicable. # Rounds to zero. 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, 1999–2000, and 2003–04; "Private Teacher Questionnaire," 1993–94, 1999–2000, and 2003–04; and "Charter Teacher Questionnaire," 1999–2000. (This table was prepared August 2006.)