During her speech at the Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Cincinnati, Laura Bush today unveiled two publications that offer parents and teachers the lessons of research and science on reading instruction and reading readiness.

The publications are the work of the Partnership for Reading, which brings together the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institute for Literacy, and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development to make parents, teachers and other adults with children in their lives aware of the evidence-based reading research that is available and essential in order to teach children to read well.

The first publication, Put Reading First: Helping Your Child Learn to Read, offers parents and caregivers information on pre-reading and reading activities that evidence from rigorous research has shown to help children read well. The publication was originally featured by President Bush at a Sept. 10 forum on reading in Sarasota, Fla. The second publication, Put Reading First, puts current evidence on effective pre-reading and reading instruction into an easy to use format for teachers. The publications are now available to families and teachers across the country and will be used by the partnership as it continues to support evidence-based reading instruction and pre-reading activities. The partnership's activities will also support President Bush's goal of offering every child in America the skills they need to learn to read by the end of the third grade.

Mrs. Bush unveiled the publications at a one-day summit hosted jointly by the Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky State Departments of Education to bring together educators, leaders, researchers and policy makers in the area of early childhood cognitive development to present the proven, research-based strategies parents and teachers can use to promote learning readiness among young children. Mrs. Bush has made early childhood development a major feature of her education initiative - Ready to Read, Ready to Learn.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Bush joined U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson in hosting the White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development in Washington, D.C. That summit was created by Mrs. Bush, a former public school teacher and librarian, to highlight the early learning activities that parents and educators can use to prepare young children for school. Other featured speakers from that earlier event traveled to Cincinnati to share their research, including Susan Neuman, assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education; Reid Lyon of the National Institute of Child Heath and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health; and Susan Landry of the Pediatrics Department at the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center.

Copies of both publications are available through ED Pubs and can be ordered by calling 1-800-228-8813 or by emailing EdPubOrders@aspensys.com. The publications can also be downloaded from the National Institute for Literacy Website at www.nifl.gov.