The official proposals from MEC (Ministry of Education and Culture) for Secondary Education in the 90 s , as well as the factors that influenced their elaboration, have been considered in this study to situate the process of curricular revision undertaken by Pedro II School , an important educational institution for its entailment to the central government since the imperial period. The main instruments used to collect data were: Interviews with school principals, members of the pedagogical staff and parents and pupils representatives , questionnaires for teachers and analysis of institutional documents from the process of elaborating and implanting the Political-Pedagogical Project.. in spite of the several academic department criticisms directed to the DCNEM , the sub structural and organizational conditions which have for many times become impediments to the development of the proposals, and of the inherent political-ideological impacts, we can affirm that this process was held reflecting the movement and attempting to overcome the propaedeutic perspective that prevailed. Everything indicates that this process was not better conducted, remaining restricted to a historically more operating group inside of the community, only due to the interference from the federal government, which, longing for satisfying the public opinion on the reform, made impossible the continuity of the debate and the magnifying of the understanding of central concepts such as competency-based curriculum and evaluation, making the construction of a differentiated curriculum remain predominantly a declared intention.