The future of academic content reforms relies on the relationship between policies and the decisions of teachers. Because the agreement of teachers with district policies is congruent with teacher autonomy, the dichotomy of district control and teacher autonomy is invalid. Districts execute instructional leadership by providing teacher autonomy or by persuading teachers of the benefits of their decisions. A survey regarding district influence on teachers' content decisions in fourth-grade mathematics was administered in five states in spring 1982. In each state, between 20 and 30 districts were selected. The overall response rate was 63 percent. The survey responses revealed that none of the districts encouraged teacher autonomy; objectives and testing programs were the most often used policies; there were no clusters of policies; most districts opposed the use of power; the topic emphasis and the content policies were consistent; and there was no indication of contradictory demands on teachers. The three elements of district instructional leadership include establishing goals; communicating these goals to teachers with consistency, specificity, and with all available means; and obtaining teacher support through persuasion. District policies have authority if teachers are persuaded of their advantages. Included are 10 tables, 7 footnotes, and 32 references. (RG)