The ambitious goal set by Colorado's governor to address the state's dropout problem is a model for the nation. Helping thousands of young people to receive their high school diplomas instead of leaving school without them is a crucial step in improving the quality of life for all Colorado residents. Accomplishing this goal will require focused attention on dropout prevention, intervention, and recovery--particularly in the schools and districts with large numbers of dropouts. The research reported here was conducted as a foundational analysis for the work of the Colorado Graduates Initiative (CGI), a partnership of several education advocacy organizations and other non-profit organizations seeking to assure that districts and schools succeed in accomplishing the goal of cutting the state's dropout rate in half within the next ten years. This research focused first on the statewide distribution of dropouts, and then on five of the districts having some of the largest number of dropouts, using both aggregate school level data from the Colorado Department of Education and individual level data from each of the five districts. This executive summary presents findings of the study and offers recommendations which include specific suggestions for an integrated dropout prevention framework, using a multi-tiered public health framework with an early warning system and tiered interventions to increase attendance and reduce both problem behavior and course failure. (Contains 2 footnotes.) [For the full report, "Advancing the "Colorado Graduates" Agenda: Understanding the Dropout Problem and Mobilizing to Meet the Graduation Challenge," see ED539116.]