This paper discusses the potential of school district-based and community-wide approaches to dropout prevention, and provides a summary of the goals and expected outcomes of the Consortium on Dropout Prevention, and the Urban Dropout Prevention Collaboratives Program. The Consortium on Dropout Prevention was formed to cooperatively gather and share information about dropout prevention practices by Boston, Detroit, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and four small suburban school districts. The Urban Dropout Prevention Collaboratives Program, funded by planning grants from the Ford Foundation, has begun actively developing dropout prevention programs in 21 cities, including Detroit, New York City, and San Diego. Summary conclusions from the Consortium's research and the Collaboratives' experiences include the following: (1) both community and school districts need good leadership; (2) community and districts must cooperate integrally; (3) each system should focus on different issues which can be resolved collaboratively; and (4) issues should be chosen that can be represented on a continuum of needs assessment, information gathering, resource identification, planning, and implementation activities. A 10-item list of footnotes is included. (FMW)