On October 3rd, 2002, Talaris Research Institute organized and sponsored a summit in Seattle for the Institute for State Studies, a prestigious group of business, civic and non-profit leaders devoted to developing strategies to resolve public policy dilemmas resulting from new technology. Talaris's goal in sponsoring the summit was to raise the awareness that the years from birth to five are a critical time in a child's development and to convince the ISS Board of Governors to adopt early learning as a task force issue. The summit featured experts in the fields of neuroscience, emotional development, and public policy.

Guests included Washington State's First Lady Mona Locke; Idaho's First Lady Patricia Kempthorne and former Los Angeles Mayor, Richard Riordan, among others. Presenters included Dr. Kenneth Kosik, Harvard; Dr. John Gottman, The Gottman Institute; Dr. Richard Brandon, University of Washington; and former North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt, Jr.

In his presentation, Governor Hunt emphasized that directing all of a state's resources at K-12 is doomed to failure; that is simply starting too late. When North Carolina shifted its focus to early learning, their schools began to see measurable improvements. Today, North Carolina's K-12 academic test scores are showing the greatest gains of any state in the nation.

After learning more about the critical development that takes place during the first five years of life, ISS members decided to add early learning to their list of task force priorities. Talaris board president, Dr. Samuel H. Smith, then chairman of the ISS board, commented, "Our mission is to advance knowledge of early brain development for all who nurture children. We see our relationship with the ISS as a springboard to reaching national leaders who can help us inform and enact policy to enhance the emotional lives and learning environments of young children."

Event Speakers

KENNETH K. KOSIK, Ph.D. Harvard Medical School Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik is a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. He directs the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he is working on the fundamental molecular mechanisms of brain plasticity.  Dr. Kosik served on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association, the Neurology C Study Section and the Fogarty Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. He has lectured extensively on "Learning and the Brain", and he has authored over 150 research publications including journal articles, book chapters, and invited reviews. PRESENTING: Overview of the human brain's mechanism of learning and memory, including early development.  Over the past ten years, the human brain has begun to yield its secrets. With imaging techniques, we can peer into the living human brain. We can see what parts of the brain are activated as we learn, as we experience emotion, as we struggle with choices. We can see the extraordinary variation in the human fabric as each brain reveals subtle individual differences, like mental fingerprints, in the processing of sensory input. As these activation patterns flash by in a still unreadable code, not only is the brain telling us about itself, but the view inside ourselves can potentially reveal profound insights about being human. This windfall of neuroscientific knowledge will have a powerful impact on the way we educate our children. For a more complete presentation summary click here

JOHN GOTTMAN, Ph.D. Gottman Institute Dr. John Gottman has been studying marital and parent-child interactions for over 20 years. At the heart of his research projects on parenting is the emotional life of children and the emotional communication between parents and their children. Dr. Gottman and his colleagues have investigated parents and children in  detailed laboratory studies and followed the children as they developed over time. He has made a number of observations and discoveries about the powerful impact that emotional processes can have on children and their parents. In addition, he is the author or co-author of 119 published academic articles, as well as 38 books, including his most recent works: The Relationship Cure and Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting. PRESENTING: Highlighting the importance of the emotional development of children. Dr. John Gottman's emphasis is on emotional development. His work is the epitome of blending the worlds of science and practical application. He stresses the importance of the emotional bond between parent/caregiver and child and will share his research on parenting styles and a five-step process on emotional coaching. For a more complete presentation summary click here

RICHARD N. BRANDON, Ph.D. Evans Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Washington Dr. Richard N. Brandon is Senior Research Fellow at the Evans School of Public Affairs, and directs the University of Washington's Human Services Policy Center [HSPC]. Before joining the University of Washington in 1989, Dr. Brandon served 15 years as a professional staff member and a staff director of the US Senate  Budget Committee. Prior to that, he directed systems analysis and budgeting for the New York City Department of Mental Health, and has been a consultant to state and local governments, the American Association of Retired Persons, the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government and Fannie Mae. PRESENTING: Developing state and federal policies affecting the health and welfare of children. Dr. Brandon will discuss the major issues and tradeoffs that policy makers face as the new science of early learning becomes clear. He will present recent research findings bearing on the scope of workforce improvement that is necessary to assure better child outcomes. In addition, he will talk about the potential for market-based approaches to balance parent choices with public goals, as well as how to design financing structures that balance the goals of treating early childhood as part of universal education, targeting limited funds to those most in need and minimizing total costs. For a more complete presentation summary click here

THE HONORABLE JAMES B. HUNT, JR. Former Governor of North Carolina Mr. James Hunt is a nationally recognized leader in education and has led his state through twenty years of dramatic economic change. Serving an historic four terms as Governor, Mr. Hunt has been at the forefront of education reform in his state and in the nation. The Rand Corporation reports that North Carolina public  schools improved test scores more than any other state in the 1990s. Governor Hunt wants them to be first in America by 2010. Mr. Hunt is currently a partner in the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice practicing in the Raleigh, North Carolina office. He also chairs the board of the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy. A part of the University of North Carolina system, the Institute was established in 2001 to work with current and emerging political, business and education leaders on a national level to improve public education. PRESENTING: A picture of model state policies / programs for early childhood development. Governor Hunt will describe the origin and development of Smart Start in North Carolina, one of the nation's most highly praised early childhood programs. He will discuss how the idea was presented to the people in a state-wide campaign, the public-private partnerships involved in its establishment and growth, and the local rooting of the program in every county of the state. In addition, he will describe the nation-leading gains in K-12 student academic performance that has followed this program's inception. For a more complete presentation summary click here

THE HONORABLE RICHARD J. RIORDAN Former Mayor of the City of Los Angeles Richard J. Riordan was elected the 39th mayor of Los Angeles in June of 1993 - the first Republican Mayor of that city in over 30 years. He was overwhelmingly reelected in 1997, with more than 60 percent of the voters supporting his efforts to improve public safety, create quality jobs, and reform Los Angeles' public schools. He worked hand-in-hand with both community and business leaders, as well as local elected officials, to transform Los Angeles into a thriving metropolis with a flourishing economy and revitalized communities. PRESENTING: Homeland security. Mr. Riordan will discuss how, as Americans, we have typically looked to the federal government to protect us from enemies abroad. We tend to think of national defense as a federal function. However, that old division of labor does not work against terrorism today. While the current increases in homeland security funding and the proposal for a new Department of Homeland Security are a good start, they do not go nearly far enough.

For more information on the Institute of State Studies, click here

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