Background characteristics, school performance, and achievement test data were analyzed for 788 third-grade boys and 774 third-grade girls who were known later to have become high school dropouts or graduates. As early as the third grade a variety of variables were predictive of later status. (Author/JKS)

A multiple regression was used to predict the grade in which secondary school dropouts would leave school. Predictors were twenty measures drawn from sixth grade records. It was concluded that a construct labelled "level of educational attainment" is the best determinant of both whether and when a student will drop out. (Author/JKS)