As part of an effort to reduce the dropout rate in New York City public schools, a new project called Replicating Exemplary Holding Power Programs was created in June, 1983. Five schools participated as "demonstrators" because they were judged to have noteworthy holding power programs. Five additional "buddy" schools were chosen by the principals of the demonstrator schools. Each of the ten schools was allocated $100,000 to expand and improve holding power strategies aimed at incoming students. Spending was at the principals' discretion; in general, the trend was to use the funds for additional staff and staff time. The schools did not use uniform criteria in selecting program participants: though each school targeted ninth graders, two schools targeted some tenth graders as well. Attendance monitoring was an important facet of the holding power program at all ten schools. In addition, all but one school placed primary focus on one or more of the following: high-interest classes, counseling, and concentrated staff time for small groups of students. Student outcomes showed that the most successful schools were generally those which served only special groups of ninth graders and had a large number of holding power program components. As a whole, targeted students showed higher attendance, promotional, and achievement rates than their comparison groups. (KH)