Pennsylvania school reform in the decade following the publication of "A Nation at Risk" can be divided into three distinct phases. As these phases parallel those of the nation, Pennsylvania is a representative state in which to explore the nation's efforts to repair its ailing school system. The first phase was that of adding inputs, of assuming that more is better, and changing curricula to provide for more mathematics and science courses. New curricula and new regulations did not actually introduce anything that made students and teachers more accountable or more productive. The second wave was that of restructuring, with teacher empowerment. Restructuring proved to be form without content, a process reform that left the substance of education essentially unchanged. The most recent phase, that of outcomes-based education (OBE), asks for the evaluation of what students can do. While nearly everyone has been willing to agree that concentrating on results makes sense, there are disagreements about how OBE should look in practice and how to measure the outcomes. These arguments resulted in a lack of support for the outcomes approach. The good news for American education, as the quoted remarks of a retiring Pennsylvania school superintendent, Michael Farrell, indicate, is that the state and the nation are aware of the need for change and are exploring ways to improve education. (SLD)