Colorado is in the middle of the dropout epidemic facing the nation--in fact its dropout rate is significantly higher than most states. For the sake of the students and the state, it is a crisis Colorado cannot afford to ignore. A combined total of 48,526 students dropped out of Colorado's public school system during the three school years between 2006-07 and 2008-09. While indefensible, there is some good news: the annual number of dropouts has declined slightly each year since 2006-07. This report is designed to track Colorado's progress in decreasing the dropout rate on an annual basis, while offering best practices and policy ideas to continue improving Colorado's education system. (Contains 29 endnotes.) [This report was written by the Donnell-Kay Foundation and the Colorado Children's Campaign with contributions from Adam Jones, Alissa Swartz, Scott Groginsky and Kim Knous Dolan.]