GEARED UP FOR CLASS

First-graders Mikey, right, and Marley, both 7, review charts that reveal their reading-level goals in class at Spring Creek Elementary School in Piqua, Ohio. The school has borrowed teaching tools from automaker Honda of America, which stresses organization, responsibility, teamwork and time management at its nearby plants. Honda is alone among major automakers with such an organized presence in the classroom. The 5-year-old curriculum framework has been used by about 50 school districts in 18 central and western Ohio counties.