Many school district leaders, particularly those in urban areas, struggle to reduce dropout rates, but find themselves overwhelmed by the dimensions of the problem. There are, however, a few districts making notable progress towards reducing the number of dropouts and ensuring that students earn high school diplomas in a timely manner.One of these is the Portland, Oregon, Public Schools (PPS). In the course of a single calendar year (2007-2008) PPS began to have a positive impact in addressing its dropout problem. Bridgespan partner Daniel Stid interviews Leslie Rennie-Hill, former Chief of the PPS Office of High Schools, and Carole Smith, current Superintendent of the Portland Public Schools to find out more.