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Last week the young Trojans' celebrated their progress and persistence. Teachers led students into the gym where they took their assigned seats. They were walking tall, and eager to hear what their principal, Todd Derenzy, had to say to them.

The students were smiling all around, with all eyes focused in rapt attention. These students knew they had done something good, and they were anxious to hear a confirmation. They got it.

The first month of school already passed, and with that, the first 30 days of a new system of rewards for good behavior. What the kids knew was that every time they were caught exhibiting positive behavior, they received an immediate and tangible reward: a "Trojan Ticket" with their name on it.

The ticket was placed into a blue box for prize drawings, the first of which was Monday, Oct. 1.

The educators knew this new system is based on a very simple but profound principle: kids who behave better, read better.

Third grader Michael James had five Trojan Tickets swimming around in the blue drawing box. "I won my tickets for responsibility," he explained. "I got one ticket for picking up the floor in my class. It is important because it teaches responsibility, and it is important to get these jobs done."

At this first assembly, Michael was lucky enough to have one of his tickets drawn and he won a prize. Other winners were Tyler Hoffman, Lily Kingma, Tyler Spence and Tommy Wiltse.

This day, however, the gym was filled with winners. They may not all have walked away with a prize, but they all pranced out with a reward. Second grader Dylan Huffman was singled out by his teacher, Mrs. Spence for a Trojan Ticket he earned. "Dylan received a ticket from another teacher when he was observed stopping a fellow student from inappropriate behavior involving one of her hall displays. He took the initiative."

The program is funded by the Michigan Department of Education and is called Michigan's Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MiBLSi). It originated at the University of Oregon, where a correlation was proven to exist between reading skills and behavior.

Instructor Shelley Derenzy is part of the team that originally brought the intervention to the Central Lake staff. "This program is based on things teachers have known for a long time," she said. "If students are spending more time in the classroom as opposed to being out dealing with a behavior issue, their academic skills will improve. If they are feeling better about themselves because they aren't in trouble, their academic skills will improve, including reading."

The staff was ready on day one this year to lay the new program on their students. Banners boasting Trojan pride and listing the keys to that pride greeted kids.

Teachers spent portions of four days in special sessions explaining to students behavior expectations for the playground, in bathrooms, at assemblies, in the cafeteria and hallways, at the library, during arrival at school, and in the classroom.

Each teacher took a topic, and the children rotated from room to room, learning the new system. "This immediately sent a message of consistency to the kids, and impressed upon them that every teacher at each grade in all classrooms had the same expectations," teacher Tim Vanderhart said.

Principal Derenzy added, "The program is very proactive, and addresses those kids who may not have any idea how to behave in certain situations in our school. That is more progressive than assuming children know how to behave. This philosophy is a nice fit with our elementary school literacy action plan, which includes goals for reading and writing."

It was not by magic that Central Lake was chosen to participate in MiBLSi; rather, the school trudged through an application process proving their established goals included literacy and behavior. MiBLSi also requires a school system to commit to the program for a minimum of 3 years with positive commitment by a large majority of its staff.

As one group of students left the gym after the assembly, one said, "It feels good to be good." Although there is much data to be gathered during the school year to substantiate this new program and the days ahead will prove or disprove its impact on reading, that little sentence is music to the ears of teachers and the MiBLSi team at Central Lake. They have established an atmosphere where it just might be that feeling good equals good reading.

If you are interested in more information about this program, please reference the website: www.cenmi.org/miblsi.

Jeff Kessler can be reached by email at perkins90@hotmail.com