I found this recent story in The Atlantic absolutely fascinating: it discusses a study that found the way in which preschoolers are read to can have long-term effects on their reading, spelling and comprehension abilities.
According to this study, conducted at Ohio State University, making “print references” – pointing to words or letters, or pointing out that words are read left to right – while reading to children can boost their reading ability, an effect that lasted for years.
That finding reminds me of a story I read awhile back (in the New York Times, I think – searching for link now) that talked about the differences in the way parents engage with their children when reading to them from an e-reader and when reading to them from an actual book: conversations during the former tend to be about the device (touch here, drag your finger across the screen, etc.) while talk during the latter tends to be about the content of the book itself.
The second article was obviously talking about the ongoing battle between digital and print, but I think they share a larger point: the way in which you read to kids – not just that you are reading to them – matters.
I think I find the first story especially compelling because this seems like such an easy thing to change: no upfront costs, no new curriculum, no added technology. A district, or school, would just have to train its preschool teachers, all of whom are likely reading to their students as part of the day anyway, how to read in this particular way.