Do I or Don't I?

Commitment is hard.  You have to LOVE something or someone to stay totally committed for long periods of time.  I'm already waivering on my dissertation topic, and this is not a good thing. Results are not looking good.  Students are not happy.  Parents are not happy.  I am not happy. Even worse, when I explain what I am doing my dissertation on, I get responses that question whether or not this is something I am passionate about.

Maybe I should focus on vocabulary.  Students seem to be really struggling on the assessments because they do not understand what the question is asking.  They do not know basic historical words - cede, levy, defy.  How do you reach 11th grade and not know the word defy? They don't.  Student after student raised their hands and asked what the word meant... I use these words too when presenting new material, so did they not know the meaning when they wrote it down?  Did they do the assessment activity without knowing the content? Why didn't they ask?  What could I do to get them to ask? Is this the root of the low performance?  If I choose this, would I be committed?

What about grouping? We currently have advanced placement and everyone else.  The lower level students are lost.  The honor students are bored.  There is no happy medium. What if we implemented one?  What if we grouped by ability which you are never supposed to do?  Would scores come up?  Would they ask then or is that lowering expectations and setting kids up to fail like the High Schools that Work program says when they suggest that we remove the groups.  Was that a mistake? Do I have 500 pages of commitment to that?

I read an interesting article yesterday about the cost of testing and the impact on education. Is that more topical and less beat to death than plan old academic achievement? I have to commit to one idea and get started...  Comittment is hard though...