FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LORI HAUSER HOLDEN, FIRST LADY, TO PRESENT REMARKS AT STATE READING MEETING

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO., March 28, 2002 - Missouri First Lady Lori Hauser Holden will be the keynote speaker at the Missouri Association of Reading Recovery Educators (MARRE) in Osage Beach, Mo. The two-day meeting will be held April 5-6 at the Tan Tara Resort and will involve Reading Recovery™ educators, primary classroom teachers and administrators from throughout Missouri.

WHAT: Keynote speaker Lori Hauser Holden will address a luncheon meeting of the Missouri Association of Reading Educators (MARRE). The Reading Recovery program encompasses more than 19,000 Reading Recovery educators in the United States and thousands more who are advocates for the program in North America. In Missouri today, 36 percent of school districts offer Reading Recovery one-to-one instruction for lowest performing first-graders.

WHO: Lori Hauser Holden, first lady of the state of Missouri, is the mother of two young sons. Education issues are extremely important to Mrs. Holden. She routinely visits schools throughout the state and was instrumental in establishing the first Missouri chapter of First Book, a national non-profit organization that provides books to under-privileged children.

WHEN: 12:30 p.m., Friday, April 5, 2002

WHERE: Tan Tara Resort Building A, Ballroom C Osage Beach, Missouri

NOTE: Questions can be directed to Jeanine Larson Dobbins, Coordinator of the Missouri Statewide Literacy Intervention Program at (573) 651-2114 or e-mail to jdobbins@semo.edu.