The mission of Pacific Resources for Education and Learning includes maintaining cultural literacy and strengthening educational programs for American-affiliated Pacific Islanders. On islands where no substitute teacher pool is available, students' educational opportunities may be seriously compromised. Policymakers and program managers in all 10 political entities were concerned about teacher and administrator absenteeism as well as teacher stress or burnout. The current study attempted to determine the risk factors for Pacific school teachers and administrators and identify which of these lead to absenteeism, attrition, and stress/burnout. In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, surveys were sent to elementary teachers, secondary teachers, and school administrators of all 14 schools. The first section gathered demographic information, number of absences, and reasons for absences in the 1996-97 school year. The second section used the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The third section required respondents to estimate when they might leave their positions and what reasons they might have. Absenteeism was low and determined not to be a problem. Potential leavers cited stress, students' bad attitudes, disagreements about how to teach, not enough supplies, and too many responsibilities as primary reasons to leave. However, teachers and administrators experienced less burnout than their mainland counterparts. Appended are the RAPSTA Teacher Questionnaire and the RAPSTA School Administrator Questionnaire. (Contains 17 references, 8 tables, and 6 figures.) (RKJ)