The 13 leading mathematics educators who made up the task force that prepared this report were thoroughly acquainted with every major report on math education produced within the last decade. They were also thoroughly acquainted with the realities of instruction in the K-12 classrooms. Their aim, therefore, was to make appropriate compromises between the ideal proposed in the reports and the reality found in the classroom. The four purposes of the report are: (1) to serve as a model and resource to district curriculum committees; (2) to suggest criteria for content selection, and strategies for curriculum articulation, implementation, and evaluation; (3) to provide a description of the K-12 mathematics program for pre-service teachers in teacher education programs; and (4) to serve as a basis for mathematics-related activity at the Department of Public Instruction. The guide is organized into 12 sections. The Introduction provides a background for using the guide for curriculum development and states the philosophy of mathematics instruction held by the members of the task force. Sections 2 through 8 cover the goals and objectives of an exemplary mathematics program. The instructional objectives have been organized into the following seven strands: number and numeration, measurement, geometry, statistics, algebra, discrete mathematics, and problem solving. Objectives in each strand have been identified for groupings of grade levels. The groupings are: K-3, 4-6, 7-8, and 9-12. The curriculum for any grade level is the combination of the objectives stated for that grade level and all those from previous grade levels. Section 9 discusses curriculum aspects that are specific to the secondary program: mathematics graduation standards, program options for students of differing levels, program implementation, preparation for postsecondary education, and preparation for calculus. Section 10 provides a description of the curriculum development process. Section 11 contains a brief description of some important issues in mathematics education that affect curriculum selection and instruction. Section 12 lists resources. The appendixes include original source materials for reference and documentation. (MDH)