Dramatic increases in the dropout rate, particularly among classified behavior disordered children, coupled with a decline in an Occupational Education enrollment project led to the creation of a "failure identity" for individuals and a loss of human resources to the national work force. The need to address this problem was the stimulus for creating the Technical Alternative High School. It was designed to treat an aspect of the dropout problem by offering students a realistic opportunity to experience competence through occupational training integrated with academics and supported by structured counseling activities. The goal of the program was to address the attitudes and behaviors that contribute to the dropout problem by developing a student's sense of competence and worth through meaningful vocational and academic experiences, integrated with social skills training and counseling support. Post-test results thus far have been encouraging and have helped to achieve the award of a competitive grant for dropout prevention. Students demonstrated improvements in the levels of on-task behavior achieved in problems with learning, unhappiness/depression, and physical symptoms/fears. The Special Education staff came to be looked upon as a resource to the larger community for assistance and advice with other problematic students on campus who were neither classified nor enrolled in the Technical Alternative High School. (Author/ABL)