The Pittsburgh Public Schools might be able to learn a lot about itself from top-performing students.

But Linda Lane, deputy superintendent for instruction, assessment and accountability, said she believes the district also can learn a great deal from the students who got away.

Speaking at a Coro Pittsburgh luncheon on the South Side yesterday, Dr. Lane said she wants to track down some of the district's high school dropouts and find out why they quit.

"I have a need to know: Where did we go wrong?" Dr. Lane said after her talk, part of the leadership development group's speaker series.

Dr. Lane said her inspiration was a May 25 New York Times story about doctors who study CT scans of fallen U.S. soldiers for clues about deficiencies in battle armor and battlefield medical care -- lessons that could help save the living. Similarly, Dr. Lane said, lessons from the district's dropouts could help students still in school but "hanging by a thread."

A Rand Corp. study in 2006 put the district's dropout rate at 35 percent, with the rate for black males nearly 50 percent. A higher graduation rate is one aim of the district's high school improvement efforts.

Dr. Lane said she wants to know not only why dropouts left school but whether anyone reached out to them when they showed signs of faltering. She said her research plan is in its early stages.

The idea received a hearty endorsement from John M. Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises, a policy firm that collected data on nearly 500 dropouts with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In a 2006 report, "The Silent Epidemic," Mr. Bridgeland and two co-authors said 47 percent of dropouts indicated their classes weren't interesting enough. Dropouts also cited a lack of motivation, too much personal freedom and too little parental involvement.

But the interviews showed that droputs aren't "chronic losers."

"Most kids could make it," Mr. Bridgeland said, calling them articulate and ambitious.

Mr. Bridgeland described the report as the first to explore the dropout problem from the perspective of dropouts, and he said Dr. Lane's work would be a welcome addition.

The report spawned national and state summits on dropout prevention. Mr. Bridgeland said there are plans to hold one in Pittsburgh, but no date has been set.