The United States has been engaged in school reform for three decades. The federal government as well as all fifty states have passed numerous versions of reform legislation to mandate and regulate the process. Educators have adjusted their practices to the policy created by this legislation. They have also allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to implement the mandated reforms. The effort has also involved literally tens of thousands of educators and millions of students. There have been countless assessments of the results of reform legislation. None deny that student achievement nationally is about where it was when reform started thirty years ago. What has not been done throughout the three decades is any assessment of the policies that have driven the reform movement. This article proposes use of the systems theory of W. Edwards Deming to assess the educational system and offer a new set of policies that can bring about dramatically improved student achievement.