I certainly understand and agree with this National Endowment for the Arts study reported in The New York Times but two relevant points are important:

1)    We didn't need to waste money on this study.  The more you read, the better you will write, the better you will think, the better you will test.

2)    Schools do a lot to discourage reading.  "What," you say?  Schools?  Discourage reading?  Well, I read the crap that my kids are asked to read in school.  The text books are boring.  The "novels" are heavily weighted toward leftist propaganda (right now, my son is reading a tale of the struggle of union organizers in West Virginia coal mines).  Earlier this year, he read some anti-Vietnam war tale.  And I don't object to some variety but in the list of books to teach from, the also-rans with a political agenda seem to rise to the top.  

The result is that kids aren't exposed to and taught great literature so they don't appreciate a good tale and end up reading less.  Yes, there are many other factors (television, video games and the Internet) but nothing beats a good story to wet the appetite for learning.

Lest I be accused of simple complaining, allow me to make a curriculum suggestion:  Get a copy of Harold Bloom's "How to Read and Why," and make sure that your children are exposed to the writers in Bloom's book from Chekhov to O'Connor to Hemingway to Shakespeare.  They'll get it.