A study of why adult literacy students stopped attending beginning reading tutorial programs was conducted at nine sites that were part of the Pittsburgh Literacy Initiative. A total of 192 adults were identified as having discontinued their reading programs, all of which were one-on-one tutorial programs. The reading level of these dropouts had been tested at the 0- to 4th-grade level. Sixty of those dropouts participated in the study. Data were collected through interviews with persons responsible for working with students and through telephone or face-to-face interviews with dropouts. Forty-seven percent of dropouts cited personal factors, 40 percent cited program factors, and 13 percent cited other factors as the reasons they dropped out. Personal factors cited were work schedules (23 percent), personal or family health reasons (17 percent), and family crises (7 percent). Within the program factors category, the reason cited most often was a tutor factor, such as incompatibility (18 percent). Other program factors included the dropouts' dissatisfaction with or embarrassment about their lack of learning (18 percent) and the place or time for tutoring (3 percent). Asked how to reduce the attrition rate, 77 percent of respondents suggested such things as increasing tutor and student support, evaluating the tutor-student match, recognizing achievement, or changing the time and/or place of tutoring. When participants were asked to identify what they hoped to be able to read, most said books, newspapers, magazines, mail, or the Bible. Only 10 of the 60 indicated that they wanted to improve their competency in dealing with work-related reading material. (The document contains seven references and two tables.) (CML)