The Kentucky Dropout Prevention Advisory Commission, appointed in 1984, found enough evidence to conclude that Kentucky's dropout problem is large enough to nerit the development of statewide dropout prevention efforts. Any such effort, the Commission states, will require a commitment from all Kentucky officials, educators, and citizens to educate all children. Furthermore, change at all levels of the education system will be needed, along with adequate State funding of local efforts. And because dropping out is a process, not a single action, prevention programs must be aimed at all levels of education, from kindergarten to twelfth grade, and should include the child's home. Finally, the goal of any prevention effort should be not merely to keep students in school for 12 years, but to provide a quality education to all students. The Commission's specific recommendations to the State Department of Education include the following: (1) define the "dropout"; (2) count the number of dropouts, by district and school; (3) assume a major leadership role; (4) provide funding for local educational authorities to maintain adequate support services for students; (5) expand the current remediation program to grades 3 and 4 and develop methods of reducing the need for remediation; (6) address the special needs of middle and junior high school students and of senior high school students with technical assistance and special funding; and (7) eventually raise the compulsory attendance age to 18 or graduation. (KH)