Digest of Education Statistics
2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 230.90. Percentage of public school teachers who agreed that student misbehavior and student tardiness and class cutting interfered with their teaching, by selected teacher and school characteristics: Selected years, 1987-88 through 2015-16
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Teacher or school characteristic 1987-88 1990-91 1993-94 1999-2000 2003-04 2007-08 2011-12 2015-16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Student misbehavior1 in school
    interfered with teaching
                                 
Total 42.3 (0.36) 35.7 (0.34) 44.1 (0.40) 40.8 (0.42) 37.2 (0.52) 36.0 (0.57) 40.7 (0.65) 42.9   (0.36)

Years of teaching experience
                                 
3 or fewer 45.0 (0.99) 38.0 (0.98) 48.2 (1.26) 43.8 (0.90) 41.6 (1.92) 39.0 (1.15) 45.7 (1.28) 47.4   (0.73)
4 to 9 42.9 (0.72) 36.2 (0.77) 45.8 (0.68) 43.0 (0.75) 38.2 (0.80) 36.8 (1.11) 42.1 (1.22) 43.6   (0.59)
10 to 19 41.4 (0.44) 34.7 (0.57) 43.8 (0.65) 38.9 (0.74) 36.3 (0.88) 35.8 (0.89) 40.1 (0.96) 42.1   (0.60)
20 or more 42.3 (0.75) 35.7 (0.77) 42.0 (0.59) 39.3 (0.60) 34.7 (0.74) 33.7 (0.94) 37.9 (1.06) 41.0   (0.60)

School level2
                                 
Elementary 40.8 (0.57) 35.5 (0.49) 42.9 (0.59) 40.7 (0.61) 35.1 (0.82) 33.7 (0.80) 40.1 (0.96) 43.8   (0.48)
Secondary 44.6 (0.42) 36.1 (0.47) 45.5 (0.37) 40.8 (0.44) 41.5 (0.59) 40.2 (0.79) 41.9 (0.82) 42.1   (0.62)

School enrollment
                                 
Under 200 34.1 (1.07) 27.0 (1.18) 35.0 (1.09) 36.8 (1.36) 33.9 (1.71) 36.1 (1.91) 42.3 (1.84) 39.7   (1.43)
200 to 499 38.5 (0.64) 32.5 (0.65) 39.6 (0.83) 39.0 (0.67) 32.7 (0.93) 35.0 (0.97) 40.1 (0.94) 42.9   (0.70)
500 to 749 42.6 (0.63) 35.9 (0.67) 43.4 (0.79) 41.7 (0.92) 35.0 (1.00) 35.8 (1.36) 38.6 (1.43) 42.7   (0.75)
750 to 999 45.9 (1.17) 40.6 (1.09) 49.6 (0.91) 42.6 (1.48) 38.9 (1.50) 33.6 (1.38) 43.5 (1.93) 45.7   (1.13)
1,000 or more 47.8 (0.74) 39.5 (0.76) 49.0 (0.71) 42.5 (0.71) 44.9 (0.85) 38.9 (1.05) 41.8 (0.98) 42.2   (0.81)

Locale3
                                 
City --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 45.8 (1.17) 44.0 (1.31) 48.5 (1.63) 50.0 4 (0.70)
Suburban --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 34.3 (0.84) 33.4 (0.92) 37.4 (1.06) 40.2   (0.63)
Town --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 36.2 (1.32) 35.5 (1.54) 40.5 (1.23) 44.3   (0.91)
Rural --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 31.8 (0.87) 31.9 (0.97) 36.7 (0.93) 37.2   (0.75)

Student tardiness and class cutting
    interfered with teaching
                                 
Total 34.7 (0.29) --- (†) 27.9 (0.32) 31.5 (0.35) 33.4 (0.45) 33.4 (0.64) 37.6 (0.51) 37.5   (0.44)

Years of teaching experience
                                 
3 or fewer 37.9 (1.03) --- (†) 31.8 (0.87) 35.1 (0.84) 37.0 (0.97) 36.7 (1.22) 41.4 (1.46) 41.8   (0.77)
4 to 9 33.7 (0.55) --- (†) 28.8 (0.71) 32.4 (0.63) 34.0 (0.75) 34.4 (1.08) 38.5 (1.06) 38.4   (0.73)
10 to 19 33.5 (0.39) --- (†) 26.8 (0.55) 29.1 (0.64) 32.9 (0.80) 32.6 (1.16) 37.4 (1.01) 36.6   (0.56)
20 or more 36.1 (0.61) --- (†) 27.0 (0.40) 30.9 (0.56) 31.4 (0.71) 31.2 (1.00) 35.0 (1.02) 35.3   (0.64)

School level2
                                 
Elementary 23.7 (0.37) --- (†) 18.4 (0.47) 25.5 (0.48) 27.7 (0.60) 26.4 (0.85) 32.3 (0.76) 32.4   (0.52)
Secondary 51.5 (0.44) --- (†) 45.3 (0.40) 43.4 (0.47) 45.7 (0.64) 47.2 (0.86) 47.1 (0.69) 47.4   (0.72)

School enrollment
                                 
Under 200 27.5 (1.03) --- (†) 18.7 (0.80) 26.6 (1.06) 29.5 (1.38) 31.4 (1.76) 36.9 (1.69) 37.1   (1.57)
200 to 499 25.3 (0.46) --- (†) 18.7 (0.63) 27.5 (0.72) 28.2 (0.82) 29.2 (1.03) 34.5 (1.03) 33.9   (0.65)
500 to 749 29.6 (0.66) --- (†) 22.1 (0.70) 28.2 (0.72) 29.0 (0.89) 29.3 (1.32) 33.6 (1.08) 35.1   (0.76)
750 to 999 36.8 (1.10) --- (†) 31.5 (1.25) 28.7 (1.23) 32.1 (1.21) 30.7 (1.25) 37.8 (1.94) 35.7   (1.00)
1,000 or more 55.4 (0.67) --- (†) 48.0 (0.73) 42.2 (0.79) 46.0 (0.97) 44.5 (1.16) 45.4 (0.94) 45.7   (0.92)

Locale3
                                 
City --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 41.1 (1.01) 42.8 (1.14) 44.8 (1.18) 44.5 4 (0.81)
Suburban --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 30.5 (0.82) 30.5 (0.97) 34.0 (0.85) 33.6   (0.68)
Town --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 33.0 (1.20) 33.8 (1.66) 38.6 (1.32) 39.5   (0.93)
Rural --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 28.6 (0.85) 27.7 (0.97) 33.7 (0.91) 33.4   (0.66)
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
1The questionnaire provided the following examples of student misbehavior: noise, horseplay, or fighting in the halls, cafeteria, or student lounge.
2Elementary schools are those with any of grades kindergarten through grade 6 and none of grades 9 through 12. Secondary schools have any of grades 7 through 12 and none of grades kindergarten through grade 6. Combined elementary/secondary schools are included in totals but are not shown separately.
3Locale data prior to 2003-04 are not comparable to data based on current definitions.
4Interpret 2015-16 data on city teachers with caution. After nonresponse adjustments, the nonresponse bias for this category is greater than for other characteristics.
NOTE: Teachers who taught only prekindergarten students are excluded. Includes both teachers who "strongly" agreed and those who "somewhat" agreed that student misbehavior or student tardiness and class cutting interfered with their teaching. Includes teachers in both traditional public schools and public charter schools. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), "Public School Teacher Data File," 1987-88, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1999-2000, 2003-04, 2007-08, and 2011-12; "Charter School Teacher Data File," 1999-2000; and National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), "Public School Teacher Data File," 2015-16. (This table was prepared February 2021.)

2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest