PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Children’s Crusade for Higher Education announced a new name, a new mission and some promising results regarding the number of low-income students who go directly to college after graduating from high school.

The Crusade, now in its 18th year, will be known as The College Crusade of Rhode Island, a name change that reflects its revised mission, which will focus on not simply getting students into college, but preparing them to do college-level work.

“We’re here to announce that we’re raising the bar,” said Crusade President Mary Sylvia Harrison. “Our goal is to produce students who are ready for college.”

According to Harrison, almost 60 percent of students entering the Community College of Rhode Island need to take remedial courses because they aren’t ready to do college-level course work. The Crusade, which was created in 1989 to address the high dropout rates of low-income students in Rhode Island, will work with CCRI and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop programs that strengthen the Crusaders’ academic skills.

As part of the Crusade’s new mission, students will enroll in the program when they are in sixth grade instead of third grade. Harrison said the Crusade decided to concentrate on middle school students because research has shown that is the age when students are able to develop deep relationships with their advisers or mentors, young adults who work closely with students to build self-esteem and college-readiness skills.

The Crusade also used yesterday’s news conference to announce the results of its annual report, which found that urban youth from low-income families thrive when a caring adult inspires, supports and believes in them.

According to the report, 70 percent of Crusaders go directly to college from high school, compared with 55.6 percent of Rhode Island students from all income levels and 52 percent of low-income students nationwide.

“Our most successful Crusaders spent twice as much time with their advisers,” Harrison said, “and had twice the participation [rate] in our middle school Crusade Academic and Adventure Program and our high school Pathway to College program.”

The study also found that 62 percent of Providence Crusaders graduated from high school compared with 53 percent of their peers in the district.

In the four cities served by the Crusade, 324 Crusaders entered ninth grade four years ago and 203 graduated on time, the report found. Of those graduates, 141 went directly to college. The Crusade serves 3,571 public and charter school students from four cities: Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket and Woonsocket.

At the news conference, Rhode Island Education Commissioner Peter McWalters said it makes sense to target middle-school children because that’s the age when students begin to tune out of school. His office is committed to introducing advisories at middle and high schools in Rhode Island, but, he said, there is significant resistance to the movement.

“To not acknowledge the difference between the two Rhode Islands is foolish,” McWalters said. “The Crusade is attempting to break down this barrier. We’re not there yet, but this is a courageous moment.”

Without the intercession of a handful of caring adults in his life, Warren Simmons said he never would have gone to college, much less become director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. He said that it takes three systems working together — the family, the schools and the community — to raise a happy and successful young adult.

No one spoke more eloquently about the impact of one caring adult on the life of a child than Brandon Ramos, 25, a Crusade mentor to 15-year-old April Dean, a recent graduate of Nathanael Greene Middle School in Providence. Ramos said he is blessed to work with an “elite group of young professionals” who believe in their ability to “make our mission come true.”

“I gain inspiration from my Crusaders,” Ramos said before turning the podium over to April, who described how the Crusade transformed her attitude toward school and college. April said she wasn’t much of a student until she began working with Ramos; now, her attendance is up and she can’t wait to go to college.

The Crusade offers scholarships to financially eligible high school graduates that can be used at any Rhode Island accredited college, junior college or trade school. Donated scholarships can also be used at out-of-state colleges that belong to the Crusade’s Scholarship Collaborative. This year, the Crusade awarded $2.6 million in scholarships to approximately 800 Crusaders.

lborg@projo.com