This guide, the first volume in a 12-part series produced by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, is an overview of the planning process for curriculum development in all subject areas. It explores ways to review, revise, create, and evaluate curricula, along with sample plans and organizational patterns that encourage staff participation. The first section discusses the purposes for developing this and the 11 subsequent subject-area guides. The second section discusses the process of curriculum development, including administrative organization and support for change, the climate for change, and the responsibility for curriculum development. The third section discusses subject-area curriculum development under four headings: planning, content of the subject area guide, implementation, and evaluation. Sample surveys, checklists, philosophies, and goals and objectives are included to serve as starting places for discussion and as models which may be adapted to local needs. The fourth section is a set of 15 appendixes that provide a wide range of resources and guidelines for problematic areas in curriculum development, including time allocation, controversial issues, censorship, educational freedom, media specialists, use of print materials, bias in curricular materials, sexism, ethnocentric materials, career planning material selection, and computers in education. Also included in these appendixes are a list of organizational resources, a checklist for program evaluation, sample writing objectives, and Wisconsin statutes that affect curriculum. (TE)