Succinctly stated the challenge is this:
The United States culturally undervalues education. We have low standards for the teaching profession. Not surprisingly, there is little trust placed in our teaching force to make education decisions, and the practicing professionals in schools are kept out of the policy-making process.
Read more at the New Media Consortium..
Question Tank 
Excellent piece. I really appreciate how you said ‘being involved in decision making’. The technology is indeed out there and should be used – now a matter of POSITIVE encouragement for teachers to try, improve, use. For some the learning curve may be a little bit tougher, but this is where the need for great collegial staff and principals is greatest. In addition, it opens up a whole new discussion which will be both quantitative and qualitative in very different ways from M/C and T/F testing. Thank you for ‘saying’ what needs to be heard all over.
Katima, thank you for the compliment. You identify qualitative alongside the quantitative in your comment. It is indeed this ‘qualitative’ upon which our critical thinking evaluation hinges.