This report of the Education Data Project presents the findings of the Task Force on Collecting National Statistics on Dropouts, created to recommend ways of arriving at accurate, comparable, and timely state and national dropout statistics. The major recommended strategy is to agree on specific data to be collected by the states and to establish definitions and specific criteria for collecting the data. The report reviews problems in establishing definitions, and indicates how each state arrives at a definition of a dropout. It also makes general recommendations for collecting dropout data. The report contains four tables and two exhibits that present the dropout data currently collected by each state. An appendix presents in tabular form the components of each state's definition of a dropout, a graduate, an expelled student, and a suspended student. Also included are the names and affiliations of Task Force members, and the names of each state's data collector. (MH)