PROVIDENCE — The College Crusade of Rhode Island says that students enrolled in its program graduate from high school and attend college at higher rates than Rhode Island students in general and students nationwide.

The crusade was created in 1989 to address the high dropout rates of low-income students in Rhode Island and serves 4,000 students in the state’s poorest school districts, including Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and Woonsocket. Starting in sixth grade, the crusade pairs an adult adviser with groups of students in 33 participating schools. Crusaders take a pledge to do well in school, avoid drugs and alcohol, avoid pregnancy and graduate on time.

At a news conference in Providence Wednesday, the crusade released its third annual report card, which describes the organization’s work with students during the 2006-2007 academic year.

According to the crusade, for every 100 students who enter ninth grade, 79 student crusaders graduate from high school on time, compared to 54 from urban districts in Rhode Island and 71 students statewide.

Crusaders also go straight to college at higher rates than their peers: out of every 100 students who enter ninth grade, 48 student crusaders attend college after graduating from high school compared with 31 in urban districts and 40 statewide.

However, the number of 12th graders enrolled in the crusade last year — 252 students — was small compared to the 10,836 students in 12th grade statewide. Although the sample size of crusaders is limited, the organization says that the numbers are large enough to be statistically significant, according to Robert Oberg, the director of communications.

Peter McWalters, the state commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said yesterday the crusade is a model for the kind of meaningful mentor relationships that high schools have been asked to create to meet the state’s new performance-based graduation requirements. The crusade’s adult advisers help students understand the importance of attaining not only a high school diploma but also a college education.

“When you see this kind of success, this is not an accident,” McWalters said. “This is top-shelf work. None of us should be happy until every child [in Rhode Island] has this.”

The crusade has reinvented itself at least twice since its inception 19 years ago. During the mid-1990s, the organization decided to narrow its focus. Originally, it was open to all third-graders, regardless of family income, but the organization later decided to concentrate on children with the greatest financial need.

Last year, the Rhode Island Children’s Crusade announced a new name and a new mission. Students are now enrolled in sixth grade instead of third grade. President and CEO Mary Sylvia Harrison said the crusade decided to concentrate on middle school students because research has shown that this is the age when students are capable of developing meaningful relationships with their advisers. The name change also reflects the organization’s revised mission, which focuses on preparing students to do college-ready work.

The shift in focus is in direct response to a study that found that almost 60 percent of students entering the Community College of Rhode Island needed remedial courses because they weren’t ready for college work.

The crusade also reported that there is a direct link between high school graduation rates and how active students are in the organization. Crusade students who graduated on time spent more than twice as much time with their advisers as crusaders who didn’t do so. And crusaders who went directly to college spent more than five times as many hours with their advisers than those who didn’t attend college following graduation.

According to Harrison, crusaders also have higher school attendance rates at every level than their peers in urban districts.

Elizabeth Burke Bryant, the executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count, a child advocacy group, said the crusade “has the guts to hold public demonstrations” of its efficacy.

“Your work is a testament to the importance of personal relationships,” she said yesterday. “We all know that the college admission process is a drumbeat to get things done. We all need to step up to be advisers, to be coaches. That’s what your program has done so beautifully. We can’t yield until every child has the same shot at getting a quality education.”

No one spoke more eloquently about the impact of one caring adult on the life of a child than Dwayne Clement, a crusade adviser who works with students at Mount Pleasant High School in Providence.

“I’m their mother, their father, their sister, their brother,” he said. “I got their back.”

Clement described the late-night calls from a student desperate to finish his college application. He talked about the senior who needed 10 hours of community service in order to graduate. Clement called a friend, and, in no time, the young man had a job at the John Hope Settlement House in Providence.

“Dwayne, he put me under his wing and guided me toward success,” said Luis Betances, a crusader from Mount Pleasant High School. “He was there for me when I felt there was no one else there.”

During his freshman year, Betances said he was failing most of his classes. Now, he’s earning mostly Bs and plans to study computer science at CCRI next year: “It’s all due to the foundation of the crusade.”

The crusade offers scholarships to financially eligible high school graduates that can be used at colleges that belong to the organization’s scholarship collaborative. So far, the organization has awarded $18 million in scholarships to two- and four-year colleges.

lborg@projo.com