"Modeling Mathematics Teaching Excellence" is a professional development process designed to enable mathematics departments to conduct an assessment of how well their program is meeting the needs of their early adolescent students. It is a modified edition of the Mathematics Assessment Process for the Middle Grades (MAP), a year-long self-study used by schools to examine and align their mathematics education programs to new national goals articulated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in its "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards" and the "Professional Standards for School Mathematics." After an introduction providing an overview of the process and an implementation outline, this implementation guide is presented in five sections. Section I includes "Criteria for Excellence" in the areas of curriculum, learning experiences, problem solving and critical thinking, diverse needs, attitudes, relevance to students, faculty, parent and community involvement, and assessing progress. A list of accompanying ideals and an instrument for self assessment in each of these areas is provided. Section II which explains how to use MAP, provides information on how to: initiate the process, use the assessment instruments, and summarize assessment data. Section III supplies the necessary assessment instruments: Mathematics Classroom Observation (MCO); Mathematics Teacher Interview (MTI); Mathematics Teacher Survey (MTS); and Student Resource for Learning Mathematics (SR). Section IV provides information on how to analyze the data collected and gives exemplary models to work from. Section V describes a framework for planning action based on the results of the assessment. A glossary of terms and a list of distributors of innovative mathematics teaching materials is provided. (MDH)