First Lady Laura Bush Visits Boise for the Early Learning Summit

The Lee Pesky Learning Center partnered with Patricia Kempthorne, the First Lady of Idaho, to host the Early Learning Summit for the Northwest Region on June 10, 2002. The Boise event was part of a series of federal summits planned to raise awareness about the importance of early learning. The conference brought together noted experts in the field of early childhood education, with First Lady Laura Bush delivering the keynote address. Nearly 600 educators, legislators, businessmen, foundation representatives, and community leaders from eight northwest states attended.

This summit, like the others held around the nation, built upon President Bush’s early childhood initiative, Good Start, Grow Smart. This initiative helps states and local communities ensure that young children have the skills needed to start school ready to learn.

In addition to Laura Bush, speakers included: Perri Klass, M.D., Medical Director and President of Reach Out and Read; Patricia Kuhl, Ph.D., Co-Director of the University of Washington’s Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning and Professor of Speech and Hearing; Susan Landry, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas-Health Sciences Center at Houston; Reid Lyon, Ph.D., Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health; Susan B. Neuman, Ed.D., U.S. Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education; Craig Ramey, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Health Studies and Founding Director of the Center for Health and Behavior, Georgetown University and James Wendorf, Executive Director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Speakers addressed a variety of topics centered on early childhood literacy, including preschool curriculum content, early literacy screening tools, effective early childhood programs and methodologies, infant brain research, and innovative models of literacy intervention. The groundbreaking ideas they shared in Boise – based on the latest educational and scientific research - have the potential to revolutionize early childhood education in the United States. 

News Page