AT LEAST 60 OF THE 625 STUDENTS WHO DROPPED OUT OF THE SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN 1959-60 LATER RETURNED TO SCHOOL, AND MANY GRADUATED. AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO DISCOVER WHY THESE STUDENTS RETURNED, WHAT KINDS OF STUDENTS WERE MOST INFLUENCED BY ADVICE TO FINISH HIGH SCHOOL, AND WHICH STUDENTS EXPERIENCED THE MOST PRESSURE TO RETURN. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THOSE WHO RETURNED WERE SOUGHT BY COMPARING RETURNEE AND NONRETURNEE DROPOUTS. THIRTY-THREE TABLES ARE PRESENTED BASED ON THE STATISTICS OF THE FINDINGS. RETURNEES WERE GENERALLY CHARACTERIZED BY BETTER ACADEMIC STANDING AND A GREATER DEGREE OF ECONOMIC AND FAMILY STABILITY. BOTH FACTORS WERE SIGNIFICANT FOR GIRLS WHILE ECONOMIC STABILITY PROVED MORE SIGNIFICANT FOR THE BOYS. THE DATA INDICATE THAT RETURNEES ARE NOT CLEARLY DISTINGUISHABLE FROM DROPOUTS. THE TWO GROUPS OVERLAP CONSIDERABLY. WHENEVER RETURNEES WERE "BETTER OFF," SOCIALLY OR ACADEMICALLY, THAN NONRETURNEES, THE DIFFERENTIATION WAS SLIGHT. THE LIMITED SYSTEMATIC DIFFERENCES INDICATE THAT SITUATIONAL AND IDIOSYNCRATIC FACTORS MAY BE OF GREATER IMPORTANCE. THIS FAILURE TO IDENTIFY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES LED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT BETTER COMMUNICATION WITH THE BROAD POPULATION OF DROPOUTS WOULD BE THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD OF INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SCHOOL RETURNEES.