The Joshua’s Challenge Literacy program launched by The Salvation Army in this community roughly two years ago is demonstrating consistent results in helping many students at participating schools in Nash and Edgecombe counties reach their third grade reading benchmarks. It is also improving the profile of these schools as well.
The program primarily targets third-grade readers as that is a focus of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction as well as many other organizations in the country. This is because proficiency in reading at the end of third grade is a great predictor of future academic success, on-time graduation rates and career success. The Salvation Army’s Joshua’s Challenge Literacy program offers participating area schools the option to provide supplemental literacy instruction to students at risk of missing these important third grade benchmarks. Best of all, the program is free of charge to the schools and the parents of participating students.
During the past academic year, The Salvation Army was able to offer this program at Benvenue Elementary School (which first piloted the program in the spring of 2022), as well as at Coker-Wimberly Elementary School, Martin Millennium Academy and Rocky Mount Preparatory School. During the coming year, the program will also be made available to Princeville Elementary School.
We at The Salvation Army are able to offer this program to area schools because of the cooperation and generosity of the United Way of the Tar River Region and several local foundations including the Edgecombe Community Foundation, The Futrell-Mauldin Foundation, the Louise Burevitch Foundation, and the Barnhill Family Foundation, which matches other grants. Other local donors also help support this important work in the community.
Each year, The Salvation Army gathers data from these local schools to measure the impacts of the program. The data for this year indicates that most students who participate in the program are able to meet a state-approved third grade reading pathway despite the obstacles that placed them on the at-risk list in the first place. The six hours of extra literacy instruction each week in a small group setting seems to benefit students who may be struggling in a larger classroom setting.
One surprise in the data this year was the increased number of participating students who were able to pass the third-grade reading state End-of-Grade tests. By the end of the 2023-24 school year, 27 percent of the Joshua’s Challenge participating students passed the 2024 reading EOG for their grade level. Overall, 22 percent of all participating students have passed their grade level End-of-Grade tests. These numbers compare to only 31 percent of all Nash County elementary and 28.5 percent of all Edgecombe County elementary students (all grade levels K-8, including proficient students who passed the reading EOG test for their grade levels in 2023).
Also, this year, for the first time, we were able to have enough comparable data to see the impact that the program is having on participating schools. For instance, in 2021, prior to the introduction of the Joshua’s Challenge Literacy Program, Read to Achieve Data captured on the state report cards showed that 75 percent of all third graders at Benvenue Elementary School had met an RTA benchmark by the end of the year. In 2023, that number had risen to 84.2 percent. At Coker-Wimberly Elementary School, only 56.8 percent of third grade students met an RTA benchmark in 2022 before the adoption of the Joshua’s Challenge Literacy Program and 65.7 percent met the goal in 2023 after a year of implementation of the program.
For more information about this program of The Salvation Army, please call 252-446-4496 and choose option 2.
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