The purpose of this study was to identify, evaluate, and study in depth selected beliefs regarding teaching practices that could help industrial education teachers work more effectively to prevent dropouts. The objectives of this task were to: (1) propose and identify teaching practices that could prevent dropouts, (2) evaluate selected teaching practices that could prevent or contribute to dropouts, (3) discover whether teachers with school-team "holding power" differ in their beliefs concerning teaching practices that prevent or contribute to dropouts from the "usual " teachers in inner and outer city senior high and vocational schools, and (4) study in depth feasible ways and means of implementing or of overcoming selected teaching practices that could prevent or contribute to dropouts. Major findings included: (1) 78 positive teaching practices, (2) 18 negative teaching practices, (3) 12 teaching practices considered by inner-city teachers to be more critical in preventing dropouts, (4) 20 positive teaching practices recognized by inner city teachers with demonstrated school-team holding power, (5) implementation measures for these practices, and (6) factors which make these teaching practices difficult to fulfill. This Ed.D. thesis was submitted to Wayne State University. (GR)