Students' engagement at school has emerged as a critical factor across hundreds of dropout prevention and recovery programs in the United States. By supporting and improving academic, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement, we can mitigate the risk of dropping out. This article describes the history of school dropout, predictors of dropout, student engagement as the critical factor, and research about promoting school completion, with Check and Connect as an example of a research-based prevention program. (Contains 1 table.)