In today's economy, a quality public education is the key to economic prosperity for young people. When Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau took office in 2009, there were 2,272 public school students who dropped out of school, and Montana had a dropout rate of five percent. For a state with a school population as small as Montana, these numbers were unacceptable. Understanding the potential economic consequences for individuals, communities and the state, Superintendent Juneau made dropout prevention a priority of the Office of Public Instruction. Inspired by the early successes of the Graduation Matters Missoula initiative, Superintendent Juneau launched Graduation Matters Montana in 2010. Graduation Matters Montana is a statewide effort to ensure Montana students graduate from high school prepared for college and the workforce. Juneau's effort has drawn from national best practices and strategies that are working. Since 2009, Montana's dropout rate has been cut by more than a third. The state's graduation rate reached another historic high in 2014-2015 at 86 percent. This report provides a description of how Graduation Matters Montana has taken hold in ways that are easy to see and describes how Graduation Matters Missoula was the seed from which Graduation Matters Montana grew.