Based on your critique of Nebraska's approved state accountability plan (see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=144#1771), it's clear that you know nothing about our system of assessment and accountability. You know nothing about the data supporting its validity and reliability. You know nothing about how the system is working to improve instruction in our classrooms. You know nothing about how the conversation about teaching and learning has changed in Nebraska.
Yet you choose to denigrate the Nebraska system and the work of our educators because it doesn't fit neatly into your (and your Foundation's) narrow world of top down, high stakes accountability that is robbing the life from our teachers and children. The only way you can tell how well a school is doing is to compare it to another.
There are other and better ways to judge the performance of students and schools, but they do not fit your notion of accountability. It would require you to regard the work of teachers and to trust their judgment and professionalism.
How sad!
Douglas D. Christensen, Ph.D.
Nebraska Commissioner of Education