School dropouts have been a substantial problem to educators since public education began. This study examined the dropout statistics of selected public schools in the Mississippi Gulf Coast counties of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson. Subjects included school superintendents (N=29) randomly selected from the 153 Mississippi school districts and educators (N=69) at all levels from the selected Gulf Coast counties. The results supported the hypothesis that there would be no significant difference in the rate of dropouts when comparing schools in the selected districts with nonrandom districts. Formal dropout prevention programs did not appear to make a significant difference in dropout rates of school districts in the random sample and no significant differences in the dropout rates of the selected school districts and the State of Mississippi were found. The dropout rate of the non-random group was significantly higher than the national rate, while the random group showed no significant differences from the national rate. County school districts had a significantly higher participation in staff development related to dropouts than did municipal districts. There was a significant difference by position as to who was responsible for dropout prevention, and a significant difference in the way county and municipal respondents estimated comparisons of their own dropouts to those of their neighbors. (ABL)