The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the disproportionate number of poor, minority, and working class students represented among the population of "school dropouts" are, objectively, the victims of an institutional syndrome of systematic exclusion referred to as "the student pushout" phenomenon. Cincinnati's junior and senior high schools were studied as a population which was stratified by school composition criteria including: (1) Segregated Black Schools; (2) Segregated White Schools; (3) Integrated Schools; (4) Appalachian Schools; and (5) S.E.S. Findings show that: (1) rates of mobility, absence, self concept and achievement are associated with dropout rates in at least three strata; (2) suspension rates and duration of suspension are associated with dropout rates in at least two strata; and (3) the dynamics of the "pushout" process vary in different strata. This study provides the basis for a preventive approach to the problem of school dropouts to replace those analyses, policies, and programs which merely deal with the consequences of the "pushout" phenomenon. (Author/JLL)