The program I described yesterday in L.A. was inspired by a woman in San Diego named Sheila Dawson. She operated a woodworking bus for over 20 years, and also inspiring a similar program in Stockton, CA. Jim Marsh, operator of that bus tells the following: "I learned of her after I started developing my program and went to visit her the summer before I built my first bus. I borrowed a number of ideas from her set-up and then developed my own.
"A few years back I received an extra paycheck from my school district at the end of the year. Investigating further I found I had "earned" this extra money because--sometime during the preceding school year--I had brought my mobile shop and taught at one of our schools that had raised it's standardized test scores. No one could even tell me for sure which school it was. After almost 20 years teaching in what is now termed a "low performing, program improvement school" I take my act on the road and, ironically and suddenly, I'm a changed man--a "successful" teacher. I laughed all the way to Barnes and Noble where I bought a bunch of copies of Alfie Kohn's great book Punished By Rewards... a copy of which I gave to each member of our school board."

Last I heard from Jim Marsh, he was facing retirement from a system under a great deal of stress from NCLB legislation and pressures for increasing test scores. His program may no longer exist, but above and below are some photos of his kids at work.