For public secondary principals for 1990-91 and 1993-94, lack of parent involvement ranked first on the list of problems facing schools, with nearly one-fifth of principals selecting it as a serious problem. Student apathy (14 percent in 1990-91, 15 percent in 1993-94) and poverty (12 percent in 1990-91, 13 percent in 1993-94) were also identified frequently for those two years by public secondary principals. Among the items that were on the questionnaires all three years, public secondary principals selected student use of alcohol (12 percent in 1987-88, 14 percent in 1990-91, 13 percent in 1993-94), student absenteeism (15 percent, 14 percent, 12 percent), and student tardiness (10 percent, 10 percent, 9 percent) among the top problems each of those years. Students come to school unprepared to learn was also selected relatively frequently by public secondary principals for 1993-94 (12 percent).

Two problems involving serious misconduct that were identified with low frequency by public secondary school principals are worth noting: verbal abuse of teachers and student possession of weapons. Verbal abuse of teachers is noteworthy because the percentage of secondary principals selecting it as a serious problem tripled between the 1987-88 and 1993-94 school years, increasing from 1 percent in 1987-88 to 3 percent in 1993-94. On the other hand, student possession of weapons remained relatively infrequently cited as a serious problem (1 percent in 1993-94). Given the seriousness of this problem, however, it is notable that for 1993-94 one of every one hundred secondary principals identified this item as a serious problem.

Private school principals were less likely than their public counterparts to identify problems in their schools as serious, but they did identify many of the same problems as their public counterparts (table 5). As with the public schools, private elementary principals selected poverty (3 percent in 1993-94) and lack of parent involvement (2 percent in 1993-94) with the greatest frequency. They identified these problems, however, at much lower rates than their public school colleagues.

A notable exception to the lower frequency of identification of serious problems for private schools can be found in the ratings of three alcohol and drug-related problems by secondary principals for 1993-94 (table A17). For that year, 12 percent of private principals identified student use of alcohol as a serious problem in their school, 9 percent identified parent alcohol/drug abuse, and 7 percent identified student drug abuse. Private secondary principals selected those problems at percentages comparable to public secondary principals (13 percent, 8 percent, and 5 percent). Private secondary principals, like public principals, also frequently selected poverty (6 percent in 1993-94) and lack of parent involvement (5 percent in 1993-94) as serious problems, but they were less likely to select these problems than their public counterparts.

Not surprising, serious problems identified by principals varied by community type. For example, in public elementary schools for 1993-94 (table A18), central city principals were more likely to identify poverty (26 percent) as a serious problem than were principals in either rural/small town schools (16 percent) or urban fringe/large town schools (11 percent). Elementary principals in central cities were also more likely to select students come to school unprepared to learn (19 percent)and lack of parent involvement (16 percent) as serious problems than were their counterparts in urban fringe/large town schools (8 percent, 7 percent) or rural/small town schools (10 percent, 9 percent).

At the secondary level for 1993-94, a pattern of problem identification similar to elementary schools emerged (table A19). As with elementary principals, public secondary principals in central cities were more likely to identify poverty (22 percent) as a serious problem than were principals in either rural/small town schools (13 percent) or urban fringe/large town schools (8 percent). Central city secondary principals were also more likely to select students come to school unprepared to learn (17 percent) and lack of parent involvement (24 percent) as serious problems than were their counterparts in urban fringe/large town schools (9 percent, 16 percent). One frequently identified problem, student alcohol use, was more commonly identified as a serious problem by public secondary principals in rural/small towns (16 percent) than those in urban fringe/large towns (11 percent) or in central cities (6 percent).