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Digest of Education Statistics
2022 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 230.90. [CORRECTED] 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 school years, 1987-88 through 2020-21
[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 2020-21
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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) 42.8 (0.38) 32.0 (0.38)

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) 47.3 (0.74) 36.0 (0.93)
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) 43.4 (0.59) 34.9 (0.60)
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) 42.0 (0.58) 30.5 (0.55)
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) 40.8 (0.64) 29.6 (0.56)

School level
                                   
Elementary --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 33.5 (0.58)
Middle --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 36.5 (0.77)
Secondary/high --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 27.2 (0.63)
Combined/other --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 29.2 (1.26)

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) 40.2 (1.42) 31.5 (1.53)
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 (0.72) 33.0 (0.64)
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) 42.6 (0.74) 32.3 (0.71)
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) 45.2 (1.12) 32.8 (1.02)
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) 42.0 (0.84) 29.9 (0.73)

Locale2
                                   
City --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 45.8 (1.17) 44.0 (1.31) 48.5 (1.63) 49.6 (0.69) 36.1 (0.69)
Suburban --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 34.3 (0.84) 33.4 (0.92) 37.4 (1.06) 39.9 (0.62) 30.2 (0.56)
Town --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 36.2 (1.32) 35.5 (1.54) 40.5 (1.23) 44.2 (0.91) 33.4 (0.82)
Rural --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 31.8 (0.87) 31.9 (0.97) 36.7 (0.93) 37.1 (0.73) 29.0 (0.76)

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 (0.45) 37.4 (0.41)

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 (0.81) 42.2 (0.94)
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) 38.5 (0.73) 39.3 (0.60)
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) 36.7 (0.57) 35.9 (0.54)
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) 35.6 (0.65)

School level
                                   
Elementary --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 33.7 (0.52)
Middle --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 34.1 (0.73)
Secondary/high --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 45.4 (0.75)
Combined/other --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 37.5 (1.37)

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) 37.9 (1.77) 36.4 (1.88)
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 (0.66) 35.1 (0.69)
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) 34.9 (0.77) 34.5 (0.67)
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) 35.3 (1.01) 36.4 (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 (0.94) 44.2 (0.80)

Locale2
                                   
City --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 41.1 (1.01) 42.8 (1.14) 44.8 (1.18) 44.5 (0.84) 44.6 (0.69)
Suburban --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 30.5 (0.82) 30.5 (0.97) 34.0 (0.85) 33.6 (0.64) 35.1 (0.59)
Town --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 33.0 (1.20) 33.8 (1.66) 38.6 (1.32) 39.4 (0.93) 36.8 (0.91)
Rural --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) --- (†) 28.6 (0.85) 27.7 (0.97) 33.7 (0.91) 33.3 (0.65) 32.4 (0.81)
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
1The questionnaire provided the following examples of student misbehavior: noise, horseplay, or fighting in the halls, cafeteria, or student lounge.
2Locale data prior to 2003-04 are not comparable to data based on current definitions. Interpret 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. Percentages represent 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 and 2020-21. (This table was prepared November 2023. Corrections were made August 2023.)

2022 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest