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Digest of Education Statistics: 2004
Digest of Education Statistics: 2004

NCES 2006-005
October 2005


Table 72. Teachers' perceptions about serious problems in their schools, by control and level of school: 1993-94 and 1999-2000

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |                                  Percent of teachers indicating item is a serious problem
                                   |________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                   |                  Public school teachers            |                  Private school teachers
Problem area                       |____________________________________________________|___________________________________________________
                                   |1993-94|                     1999-2000              |1993-94|                     1999-2000
                                   |_______|____________________________________________|_______|___________________________________________
                                   |  Total|     Total| Elementary| Secondary|  Combined|       |          |Elementary| Secondary| Combined
                                   |       |          |    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(0.22)|  6.5(0.31)|17.4(0.37)| 8.4(0.45)|    2.6| 2.9(0.21)| 2.0(0.20)| 4.7(0.56)| 3.2(0.42)
Student absenteeism ...............|   14.4|13.9(0.26)|  7.9(0.36)|25.3(0.39)|15.8(0.90)|    2.2| 2.5(0.22)| 0.8(0.13)| 5.8(0.72)| 3.3(0.48)
Teacher absenteeism ...............|    1.5| 2.2(0.10)|  1.8(0.15)| 3.1(0.16)| 2.4(0.23)|    0.8| 0.8(0.11)| 0.4(0.13)| 1.1(0.23)| 1.1(0.27)
Students cutting class ............|    5.1| 4.7(0.12)|  0.9(0.10)|12.3(0.33)| 5.2(0.42)|    0.7| 0.8(0.12)| 0.4(0.10)| 1.9(0.51)| 0.9(0.22)
Physical conflicts among students .|    8.2| 4.8(0.19)|  5.2(0.28)| 3.8(0.18)| 6.3(0.71)|    1.5| 1.0(0.18)| 0.6(0.13)| 1.2(0.41)| 1.5(0.38)
                                   |       |          |           |          |          |       |          |          |          |
Robbery or theft ..................|    4.1| 2.4(0.11)|  1.9(0.15)| 3.3(0.15)| 2.9(0.26)|    0.8| 0.9(0.11)| 0.5(0.11)| 2.0(0.36)| 0.8(0.18)
Vandalism of school property ......|    6.7| 3.4(0.15)|  2.7(0.21)| 4.8(0.23)| 4.2(0.50)|    1.2| 0.7(0.11)| 0.7(0.15)| 0.9(0.23)| 0.6(0.17)
Student pregnancy .................|    7.3| 3.7(0.12)|  0.4(0.07)| 9.9(0.31)| 6.5(0.52)|    0.4| 0.4(0.09)| 0.2(0.07)| 1.3(0.45)| 0.2(0.10)
Student use of alcohol ............|    9.3| 7.4(0.14)|  0.8(0.08)|19.9(0.34)|12.9(0.76)|    3.1| 3.1(0.16)| 0.3(0.08)|12.3(0.66)| 2.4(0.32)
Student drug abuse ................|    5.7| 6.0(0.11)|  0.8(0.08)|15.9(0.26)|11.1(0.79)|    1.3| 1.8(0.14)| 0.3(0.08)| 6.9(0.68)| 1.3(0.21)
                                   |       |          |           |          |          |       |          |          |          |
Student possession of weapons .....|    2.8| 0.8(0.06)|  0.4(0.07)| 1.5(0.10)| 1.6(0.24)|    0.3| 0.3(0.06)| 0.2(0.07)| 0.6(0.28)| 0.2(0.09)
Verbal abuse of teachers ..........|   11.1|  --  (†) |  ---  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†) |    2.3|  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†)
Student disrespect for teachers ...|   18.5|17.2(0.34)| 14.6(0.49)|22.0(0.40)|20.9(1.10)|    3.4| 3.8(0.31)| 2.2(0.30)| 5.4(0.74)| 5.3(0.56)
Students dropping out .............|    5.8| 4.6(0.11)|  0.8(0.09)|11.5(0.28)| 9.2(0.72)|    0.6| 0.5(0.10)| 0.2(0.07)| 1.2(0.47)| 0.5(0.18)
Student apathy ....................|   23.6|20.6(0.30)| 13.8(0.43)|33.5(0.43)|29.4(1.02)|    4.5| 4.3(0.29)| 1.9(0.25)| 9.3(0.79)| 5.3(0.55)
                                   |       |          |           |          |          |       |          |          |          |
Lack of academic challenge ........|    6.5|  --  (†) |  ---  (†) |---   (†) |  --  (†) |    1.5|  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†)
Lack of parental involvement ......|   27.6|23.7(0.36)| 21.1(0.56)|28.3(0.46)|31.1(0.80)|    4.0| 3.4(0.30)| 1.9(0.26)| 5.3(0.79)| 4.5(0.56)
Parental alcoholism/drug abuse ....|   13.1|  --  (†) |  ---  (†) |---   (†) |  --  (†) |    2.6|  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†)
Poverty ...........................|   19.5|19.2(0.43)| 20.4(0.61)|16.5(0.39)|25.6(1.02)|    2.7| 2.1(0.21)| 1.7(0.26)| 3.2(0.62)| 2.1(0.37)
Racial tension ....................|    5.1|  --  (†) |  ---  (†) |---   (†) |  --  (†) |    0.9|  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†) |  --  (†)
Students come unprepared to learn .|   28.8|29.5(0.36)| 26.6(0.54)|34.9(0.43)|35.8(1.05)|    4.1| 4.9(0.36)| 2.7(0.29)|10.2(0.96)| 5.5(0.65)
___________________________________|_______|__________|___________|__________|__________|_______|__________|__________|__________|__________

---Not available.
†Not applicable.

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.)