This report summarizes research on retention and dropouts. Although there has been a recent resurgence of retention programs aimed at students who encounter subject-area difficulties, many studies have questioned the value of retention, especially if it is not accompanied by programs of remediation and individualized learning. However, researchers who approach this problem with statistical tools are confronted by a bewildering array of variables which are difficult to separate and even more difficult to understand except as they are interrelated. The research on dropouts is almost as difficult: several authors recommend that statistical procedures be overhauled and that methods be improved for counting the incidence of dropouts. Dropout research has focused on the following; (1) causative factors (including student variables, school characteristics, and tracking policies); (2) the economic and social costs of the dropout problem; (3) ways to prevent or alleviate the problem; and (4) the possible danger of the new movements to educational reform to at-risk students. (KH)