American teachers unions are increasingly the target of measures, authored by friends and foes alike, intended to limit their power or eviscerate them. One would never guess that the countries that are among the top 10 in student performance have some of the strongest teachers unions. Are those unions in some way different from American teachers…

Over the years, American students consistently have ranked below those from Finland, Canada, Japan, and at least a dozen other industrialized nations on international tests of mathematics, science, and reading. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has done nothing to close this gap. And the authors suspect that the law may be making matters worse.…

A new report, "The Proficiency Illusion," released last year by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute states that the tests that states use to measure academic progress under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) are creating a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades. The report is a collaboration…