According to Alexander Russo at the Ed Week blog, Representative George Miller, chairman of the House education committee, has been going at it with Ed. Sec. Margaret Spellings over his proposed revisions to the No Child Left Behind act. Miller is quoted as saying that Spellings’ criticism that his revisions would “muck up accountability” are “hokum.” This is very much like two members of the imperial court arguing over whether “the emperor’s new clothes” are fab or fugly. In order for NCLB to be “muck-uppable” it would have to be doing something useful to begin with. It isn’t. As Neal McCluskey and I document in our new study released today, NCLB has failed to fulfill its goals.