"This report is the twelfth in a series of National Center for Education Statistics reports on high school dropout and completion rates. It presents data on rates in 1999, the most recent year for which data are available, and includes time series data on high school dropout and completion rates for the period 1972 through 1999. In addition to extending time series data reported in earlier years, this report examines the characteristics of high school dropouts" and of those who finished high school last year. The HTML version of the report is nicely laid out with a hypertext table of contents and links to relevant tables so readers can decide whether to consult the data or simply skim the summaries and analysis. Among the findings highlighted by the NCES: "In 1999, young adults living in families with incomes in the lowest 20 percent of all family incomes were five times as likely as their peers from families in the top 20 percent of the income distribution to drop out of high school." The report also found that about forty-three percent of the dropouts last year were between the ages of fifteen and seventeen.