A goal adopted at the 1990 Education Summit in Charlottesville, Virginia, aims to increase the high school graduation rate to 90 percent by the year 2000. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports three types of dropout rates: (1) event rates report the percentage of students who left high school without finishing work toward a diploma in a single year; (2) status rates report the percentage of the population of a given age range who have not finished high school or are not enrolled; and (3) cohort rates report what happens to a single group of students over time. Differences exist among youth in central cities, suburban areas, and rural areas. The dropout problem is most severe in central cities, least severe in suburban areas, with nonmetro areas in the middle. Measured by either event or status rates, Hispanic youth have the highest national dropout rate among ethnic groups. African Americans have the second highest rate, and Whites the lowest. Four general implications of the baseline data developed by NCES are: (1) if high school completion is a minimum level of attainment, then the earlier a student masters a high school curriculum, the better; (2) putting the national goal into measurable form requires development of indicators pegged to progress among particular age groups and reflected in particular statistics; (3) meeting the national goal is an issue of educational equity; and (4) policies that respond to the situation of particular regions and ethnic groups may be well warranted. (KS)