THOUGH THE PROPORTION OF DROPOUTS IN THE U.S. IS SLOWLY DIMINISHING, THE NUMBER OF DROPOUTS DURING THE PRESENT DECADE IS EXPECTED TO SOAR UNPRECEDENTEDLY. OF 26 MILLION YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WILL GO FROM SCHOOLS INTO THE LABOR MARKET, 7 1/2 MILLION WILL BE DROPOUTS, AND 2 1/2 MILLION OF THE DROPOUTS WILL HAVE HAD LESS THAN 8 YEARS OF SCHOOLING. UNTIL RECENTLY THE DROPOUT HAD BEEN COUNTED ON TO FILL A LARGE DEMAND FOR UNSKILLED LABOR, BUT THE WORLD IN WHICH DROPOUTS TODAY SEEK ENTRANCE HAS BEEN DRASTICALLY CHANGED. AUTOMATION IS DEMOLISHING WHOLE CATEGORIES OF LOW-SKILL JOBS, AND CREATING ONLY JOBS REQUIRING HIGH LEVELS OF ACADEMIC BACKGROUND. THE DROPOUT PROBLEM WILL NOT BE SOLVED BY NATIONAL PROCLAMATION OR PRACTICES BASED ON NATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT, INSTEAD, LOCAL DETAILED RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO ESTABLISH PROGRAMS GEARED TO THE NEEDS OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN EACH LOCALITY. IN NEW YORK, IT WAS FOUND THAT DROPOUT RATES TEND TO RUN HIGHER IN RURAL AND LARGE CITY SCHOOLS THAN IN SUBURBAN SCHOOLS, AND THAT DROPOUT RATES ARE RELATED TO THE OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF STUDENTS' PARENTS. NEW YORK HAS INITIATED THE SCHOOL TO EMPLOYMENT (STEP) PROGRAM TO SMOOTH THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK FOR YOUNGSTERS WHO INTENDED TO QUIT, BUT WHO ARE WITHOUT SKILLS TO BRING TO THE LABOR MARKET. PROJECT ABLE WAS UNDERTAKEN TO DEVELOP LATENT TALENT AMONG LOW SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURALLY DEPRIVED YOUNGSTERS, WITH EMPHASIS ON REMEDIAL READING INSTRUCTION, GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS AND YOUNGSTERS, CULTURAL ENRICHMENT AND TEAM TEACHING.