The purpose of this historical case study was to gain an understanding of dropout recovery programs from an interpretive historical perspective. Dropout Recovery is an Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education initiative that provides high school dropouts an opportunity to re-enroll in school, gain academic credit, and participate in career-specific training. This study begins by providing a historical perspective of the dropout problem in the United States and reviews the literature on the approaches and solutions utilized throughout career technology education to address the high school dropout problem. Because career and technology education programs designed to serve at-risk youth typically fall within the scope of alternative education, the study highlighted the history of modern alternative education and examined the types of alternative education programs designed for youth who have been unsuccessful in traditional educational settings. While examining the history of dropout recovery programs, the study was primarily focused on the relationship between four central investigative themes (purpose, political, social, and economic) that influenced the development of dropout recovery programs in the state of Oklahoma. The study was also focused on describing what programmatic purposes, if any, have emerged that are different from the original intent of dropout recovery programs within the State. Additionally, the study provides a descriptive analysis of demographic characteristics that give insight into the types of students served in dropout recovery programs over time. Lastly, this study describes how successful or unsuccessful dropout recovery programs have been, historically, through an analysis of past and current program evaluations. Both explanative and descriptive themes were developed from acquired data, and multiple data sources were compared and contrasted in order to accurately render a credible and confirmable history of dropout recovery programs in the state of Oklahoma. This study incorporated the use of both qualitative and quantitative data that were converged to answer the primary research question, and the sub questions that guided the study. Data were acquired through qualitative-naturalistic inquiry based from in-depth interviews and through the collection of several types of physical evidence including documents, archival records, and print copies of internet-based information sources. Data triangulation was utilized during the data analysis stage of the study in order to corroborate facts about dropout recovery history within the state of Oklahoma. Findings indicated that the original purpose of DOR Programs was rooted in crime prevention, alternative education, and career specific training. Additionally, findings indicated that DOR Programs have been successful serving at-risk youth, but the evaluation system used to determine their effectiveness may need improvement. The study also provides suggestions for future research on the concept of dropout recovery programs both within the state and beyond. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]