School dropouts not only limit the potential of their own lives but have a negative impact on society. This paper provides a brief description of efforts at Federal, State and local school dsitrict levels in the area of dropout prevention. An overview is given of financial assistance that has been made available through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 to assist educators working with school dropouts. Two different pilot projects were set up to develop innovative educational programs in target schools that would encourage potential dropouts to stay in school and increase their capacity to be productive citizens upon graduation from high school. The programs deal with a broad range of topics, including career exploration, improvement of overall attitude of potential dropouts, and involvement of parents of dropout prone students. Brief descriptions of Dropout Prevention Projects funded in nine states are provided. Conclusions from study data indicate that these programs were instrumental in reducing the number of school dropouts in the target schools by 52%. (Author)