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Digest of Education Statistics
1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 26.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 unprepard 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.)


1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest