This report presents results of an extensive study undertaken to determine the factors contributing to the high dropout rate in the Los Angeles Unified School District, to review options offered to students, and to make recommendations for addressing the dropout problem. First, a list of the 27 people who formed the study committee is provided. A brief background section then outlines the extent of the dropout problem in Los Angeles and in California: an attrition rate of 23 to 42 percent is estimated for the city's high schools. Next, methods employed by the current study, which drew from attrition data collected during the six-year period 1979-1984 from 50 senior high schools and from students, staff, parents and administrators, are outlined. The body of the report is divided into seven sections covering the following information: (1) definitions of the terms "dropout" and "early school leavers"; (2) reasons for dropping out; (3) characteristics of potential dropouts, as described in the literature; (4) descriptions of approximately a dozen current efforts in the Los Angeles school district directed toward the dropout problem; (5) specific findings of the dropout study (highlighting such issues as ethnic, gender and geographic differences in dropout rates); (6) recommendations regarding data collection needs as well as programatic changes that would help remedy the dropout problem in the district; and (7) budgets for implementing the recommended programs. Finally, tables ranking the districts' schoools by attrition rate are attached to the report, as is a bibliography. (GC)