Rethinking Study Habits: Conventional Wisdom is Proven Wrong

Bed bugs are associated with dingy motel rooms, but more of these creepy crawlers are showing up in the most surprising places - including public schools!

School authorities in many areas are scrambling to dispel misconceptions and provide constructive information to help educators and parents keep the outbreaks under control. However, the news has many parents concerned about the safety of their children in school, as well as the possible infestations of the critter that could occur in their own homes.

What is a Bed Bug?

According to the Mayo Clinic, bed bugs are flat, oval creatures that are reddish brown in color. They are about the size of an apple seed, but are traditionally difficult to locate because they spend their days hiding in headboards, box springs and the cracks and crevices of mattresses. They come out to feed in the middle of the night, which is why people who have bed bugs in their homes typically wake up in the morning with evidence of bites on their face, neck, arms and hands. Bed bugs can be quite difficult to exterminate completely, particularly if the infestation has significantly grown before it was discovered.

Bed bug bites often appear as small red bumps with a smaller red dot in the middle. They are usually arranged in a line or cluster, and they can be quite itchy. In most cases, bed bug bites do not cause any major medical concerns, unless a person

Most parents send their children to school each day under the assumption that the campus is a safe environment for all of their students. If a risk is detected, parents generally believe that school officials will do whatever necessary to eliminate the risk before allowing children to return to the scene.

However, some public schools across the country have found dangers lurking within school walls, but have not quickly or efficiently addressed these toxins. This concern particularly applies to dangers lurking within walls quite literally, as well as floor and ceiling tiles. The danger in question here is asbestos exposure.

In this video, The Mesothelioma Center explains how many of America’s students, teachers and school staff are at danger of asbestos exposure because the deadly carcinogen lurks behind walls, above ceilings and under floors in older schools across the United States.

What is Asbestos?

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral fiber that was once commonly used in the construction of buildings. Asbestos was previously a desirable material because of its ability to insulate buildings efficiently and its relative resistance to fire.

Asbestos was widely used throughout much of the last century until health officials found a link between asbestos and some types of diseases in the 1970s. At that time, much asbestos was removed from buildings, although walls, ceilings, and floors were

Public education was accessible to kids from all neighborhoods and walks of life. However, recent budget cuts across the board have left many schools scrambling to find ways to fund their programs and extracurricular activities. For many California schools, this means charging fees for gym uniforms and examinations. However, these fees break state laws regarding public education, and many families are up in arms about the practice.

Calling in the ACLU

According to a recent report in the New York Times, 35 school districts across California have been named in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for charging fees to students that violate state law. The ACLU's legal director in Southern California, Mark Rosenbaum told the Times, "We found that the charging of fees for required academic courses is rampant." Two unnamed plaintiffs are involved in the suit, with both attending high school in Orange County.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of an investigation by the San Diego Union-Tribune, which found that schools in San Diego Unified were openly charging fees, as outlined on their district's website. The Education Report says that charging fees in California schools is illegal, according to a California Supreme Court ruling in 1984.

Despite the state law, many schools have decided to overcome budget shortfalls by charging students and their parents for extracurricular actiities, athletic uniforms, and even Advanced Placement examinations.

This video posits the question of whether public schools are really

Los Angeles is leading the pack with teacher ratings designed to better evaluate teachers' performance despite variables like parental involvement and income levels. The tests, coined "value-added" evaluations, look at the progression of each individual student when providing teacher ratings rather than simply applying standardized test scores across the board.

According to a report in the City Journal, these value-added tests were used to evaluate teacher performance in both math and reading for third, fourth, and fifth-grade teachers across the Los Angeles Unified School District. How well did the teachers score?

Making the Grade

According to a report on National Public Radio (NPR), the original value-added evaluations were conducted by two investigative reporters at the Los Angeles Times: Jason Felch and Jason Song. The two compiled standardized test scores on every Los Angeles school district child for the past seven years. The reporters could conduct a comprehensive analysis of teacher performance using the data collected on the test scores and the teachers. The findings on 6,000 California teachers were published in the Los Angeles Times, along with the data that showed how well students performed on standardized tests.

A report in the Los Angeles Times explained that the value-added portion of the evaluation was based on a student's individual performance on initial tests and how that performance improved or backtracked. A student's improvement in school could be directly linked to the performance of his teachers, making this assessment much