Reported in this document are dropout statistics from the State of West Virginia for the school year 1985-86. This annual survey of the 55 county school systems has been conducted since the 1968-69 school year. Topics surveyed include Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) status, exit interviews, grade at exit, month dropout left school, age at leaving school, dropout's class size, disciplinary record and attendance pattern of dropout, exceptional child status, parent contact and response, special efforts by school to help dropout, years retained, number of failed courses, program of studies, scholastic ability and class rank, extracurricular activity participation, employment and future educational plans, with whom dropout was living and socioeconomic status, parents' educational level and work status, dropouts' reasons for leaving school, and schools' reasons for dropouts' leaving school. Each topic is presented with statistics comparing responses to the previous year's responses, a conclusion statement, and question(s) generated from the data. The appendix includes a description of the method of calculating dropout percentages, county data for percent of dropouts from the 1974-75 school year to the 1985-86 school year, a discussion of dropout prevention with prevention suggestions for schools for early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescent-level pupils, and West Virginia dropout prevention program briefs. (ABL)