Teaching children how to read and write is fundamental to their success as they grow, but it doesn’t come naturally to the developing brain. The English language is riddled with rules and exceptions that take practice to understand and adopt.
Annemarie Hindman, a professor in the UNC School of Education, has witnessed this firsthand as an educational psychologist and former literacy coach. She’s spent more than two decades assessing the most effective measures for teaching children how to read and write. Now, she will continue this work statewide as the inaugural Spangler Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy. Hindman, alongside eight other distinguished professors across North Carolina, will work together to advance evidence-based early literacy knowledge, support in-service teachers and prepare the next generation of educators.
A career dedicated to literacy
Hindman was raised by two educators in rural Maryland. Wanting to stray from her parents’ path, she envisioned something different for herself: a career as a lawyer or working in foreign service, she said.
As an undergraduate student at Yale University, Hindman took part in an AmeriCorps program where she supported 3- and 4-year-old students in a Head Start classroom. “To my own surprise, I decided that I was actually interested in education,” she said.
Working in classrooms, initially as a college student and eventually as a literacy coach, showed Hindman just how much she enjoyed working with children and understanding the ways they develop language.
“When I work with toddlers, they often can’t say ‘Hey, I’d like to talk to you about something,’ because they don’t have those skills yet,” said Hindman. “They’ll just bring you something... a puzzle, a little truck. It’s an obvious invitation that they would like to interact about the item.”
Throughout her career, Hindman has researched the most effective ways to help children build the vocabulary, language skills, letter knowledge and sound awareness needed to read. The skill, however, can be difficult to teach.
“Reading is an inherently challenging activity for the human brain because we were not built to learn to read. Instead of using circuitry and brain architecture that is meant for other things, we’re using it for reading,” said Hindman. “Learning to read in English is particularly challenging, because our language is what we call orthographically opaque as opposed to orthographically transparent. Every letter does not make one sound and only one sound, and one sound is not made by only one letter.”
“Reading is an inherently challenging activity for the human brain because we were not built to learn to read. Instead of using circuitry and brain architecture that is meant for other things, we’re using it for reading,” said Hindman.
Hindman's appointment comes at a time when literacy education is changing, including in North Carolina.
Improving literacy throughout North Carolina
The 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress found that only 36% of fourth graders in North Carolina were proficient in reading. To improve literacy instruction, the North Carolina General Assembly passed the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021, setting out to implement a standard curriculum, strengthen professional development and enhance educator training.
Teaching children to read and write in North Carolina specifically is exacerbated by environmental factors. Seventy-eight of North Carolina’s 100 counties are considered rural. In turn, fewer children attend preschool at a center-based school, said Hindman, given travel and time constraints.
“We have a lot of kids who are learning at home with a family member or a caregiver who has a couple of children in their home and probably mixed ages,” said Hindman. “There are fewer resources for family home childcare than there are for center-based childcare in terms of curricula and the professional development you have access to. I’m really fascinated by the opportunity here in North Carolina to support these providers, and that’s a big priority in my Carolina READERS Lab right now.”
“I’m really fascinated by the opportunity here in North Carolina to support family home childcare providers, and that’s a big priority in my Carolina READERS Lab right now.”
Understanding differences throughout the state while acknowledging the need for a standard curriculum is at the forefront of Hindman’s work. She’s authored 100 papers on early childhood literacy, which reflect her work in designing and testing interventions that help children and their families.
As the Spangler Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy, Hindman will continue this work while also collaborating with colleagues across the state. Key to the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021 is ensuring North Carolina students are taught from a body of research known as the science of reading, an interdisciplinary approach to literacy that stresses phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension. Hindman and colleagues will continue to build on this literature.
Investing in early childhood education
The C.D. Spangler and Goodnight Educational foundations have supplemented statewide legislation by establishing distinguished professorships at nine University of North Carolina System schools that will help enact these changes, including at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“The Spanglers' and Goodnights' investment in early literacy across the UNC System is simply remarkable, and the UNC School of Education is honored and grateful to hold this professorship in early literacy," said Jill V. Hamm, dean of the UNC School of Education and William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education. "We know early literacy to be of critical importance for children and their lifelong success. Our faculty members are doing incredible work in this area in collaboration with schools and districts, and I'm excited to see the impact this professorship will make for North Carolina children and educators.”
Hindman’s work will impact the next generation of educators taught at UNC-Chapel Hill and in-service teachers throughout the state. The appointment comes at a time when the school relaunched its elementary education bachelor’s, which certifies students to teach upon graduation.
“The school is really excited to be part of this network,” said Hindman. “It’s a great time for us to reflect on how we're teaching our future educators and getting feedback from them on what's working for them and what more they need from us to make sure that they're prepared in the field. It really feels like a lot of strands coming together for us at the same time.”