City, school and civic leaders yesterday tried to forge a united front to tackle Pittsburgh's high-school dropout rate of 35 percent.

Participants at the daylong Graduate Pittsburgh Summit at the Downtown YWCA proposed more mentoring opportunities for students, a parent support program and other initiatives to keep students in school.

The event, hosted by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, was one of 105 summits nationwide being sponsored by America's Promise Alliance, a nonprofit group affiliated with retired Gen. Colin Powell.

Citing a national dropout rate of nearly 33 percent, the alliance has asked all 50 states and 55 cities, including Pittsburgh, to develop prevention plans.

The ideas generated yesterday -- including more after-school programs and enhanced vocational training -- will be distilled into Pittsburgh's plan. The most immediate benefit simply may have been rallying government, academics and nonprofit groups to discuss a thorny problem.

Cutting the dropout rate, Mr. Ravenstahl said, is "going to take each and every one of us through the variety of programs that we have."

In a 2006 study, Rand Corp. estimated that 35 percent of all Pittsburgh students drop out of high school, with the rate nearly 50 percent for black males.

Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board provided additional data yesterday, saying a survey of city dropouts showed the top reasons for quitting were stress, work responsibilities, other priorities, a lack of support in school and a feeling of hopelessness caused by poor attendance.

The survey, conducted for the mayor's office by the Lyceum Group of Somerset, also asked dropouts what could have kept them in school. Responses included college scholarships, other incentives and academic support.

A separate study of dropouts by the Pittsburgh Public Schools and Workforce Investment Board showed that nearly 80 percent exhibited warning signs as early as sixth grade. The red flags included failed courses, poor attendance and out-of-school suspensions, Audrey Bode, the board's director of projects and operations, said.

The study also highlighted a positive trend. Students who got their act together by seventh grade were as likely to graduate as students who didn't show sixth-grade warning signs, Ms. Bode said.

The city school district is four years into an improvement campaign designed, in part, to increase the high school graduation rate and prepare students for college. The district already is pursuing some of the ideas broached at the summit.

For example, Superintendent Mark Roosevelt has lent his support to an effort to recruit mentors for sixth-grade students. He's beefed up services for ninth-graders, too, considering the transition to high school a vulnerable time for teenagers.

As an incentive to graduate, city students have the Pittsburgh Promise, which offers scholarships of up to $20,000 for use at private and public colleges statewide.

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