The slight rise in New York City test scores this year may impress some bureaucrats, but for a $15 billion-a-year school system it falls far short of what some private schools achieve with far less money. Placing blame on any one factor for the continuing failure of city schools is a waste of time. We should instead be concentrating on seeking solutions to help those students most in need of rescue from those failing schools.

Children who come from healthy, functional families, with parents who have their priorities straight about the importance of a good education, will make it in any school. Good students in the inner cities who come from fractured homes can still qualify for scholarships to private schools and other options available for them to succeed. There is, however, an extremely worthy program that is a lifesaver for those children whose grades do not qualify them for most inner-city scholarships. It was brought to my attention by Edward Cox.

I met Mr. Cox – who is President Nixon’s son-in-law and a potential challenger to Hillary Clinton in next year’s Senate election – at a dinner last year. I must confess that I did not recognize him until some time later. What impressed me about him was his enthusiasm about Student Sponsor Partners. Mr. Cox was chairman and remains a member of the board of directors for SSP. This unique program pairs individual at-risk youth with a supportive sponsor and provides tuition for the students in a nurturing environment at a private high school.

Mr. Cox referred me to the executive director of the program, Christopher O’Malley – who bears a remarkable resemblance to the actor Timothy Dalton. Mr. O’Malley explained how Student Sponsor Partners operates, and, after learning the stunning details of its success, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of frustration and annoyance that I had no idea that something like it even existed and has for nearly 20 years.

Student Sponsor Partners (http://www.sspnyc.org) was founded in 1986 by Peter Flanigan, who – when honored last year by the Manhattan Institute with the Alexander Hamilton Award – remarked:

“Most of America’s children are free, but tragically many of its most needy and vulnerable children remain in educational bondage. … For our inner-city, largely minority, poor children, that is precisely the fate to which we as a society condemn them. They must go to schools that, in all too many cases, they know simply do not educate.”

Instead of waiting for politicians to draft legislation allowing vouchers or tax credits for private school choice, Mr. Flanigan set out on a mission to rescue city children from this educational bleakness and to provide them with tools for a brighter future.

He recruited like-minded individuals, who donated their time and money to serve as personal mentors of at-risk children through the four years of high school. Student Sponsor Partners youngsters are three times more likely to graduate from high school than their peers attending New York City public schools. More than 90% go on to college, and Student Sponsor Partners graduates garnered $12.1 million in college scholarships and grants last year. The program, which began 19 years ago with 45 students and 45 sponsors, now has more than 1,600 sponsors serving 1,300 students in 20 schools.

While Student Sponsor Partners is nonsectarian, it works primarily with the city’s Catholic high schools, because these parochial schools offer an affordable college preparatory curriculum for educationally and economically disadvantaged students.

Two graduating students were speakers at a recent event to raise money for the program. Ricardo Watson of Cardinal Hayes High School and Nathalie Uwera from my alma mater, Cathedral High School, talked about their experiences with the program and their now brighter future. Ms. Uwera, an immigrant from war-torn Rwanda, spoke with gratitude for the program and her love for the mentor who stood next to her at the podium. Kimberly Ayers Shariff, an attorney for Black Entertainment Television, beamed with pride at Nathalie’s achievement and future college plans.

There are countless New Yorkers like Mr. Flanigan, Ms. Shariff, Mr. O’Malley, Mr. Cox, and all the sponsors and donors to Student Sponsor Partners who quietly share their successful lives and assets with the less-fortunate of our city.