The world of science education is rich with guidelines on what the science curriculum should include, but impoverished in time and money to create real programs for students that reflect these guidelines effectively. This handbook is designed to assist teachers and administrators in charting a course through the maze of new national and state standards, benchmarks, and frameworks. Part I is intended to familiarize readers with key documents in science education reform so that they can decide which documents they want to spend more time on, then move ahead in the planning process. This section, comprised of four chapters, is written from the viewpoint of an imaginary writer living in the 21st century, when the reforms have been successfully implemented. Chapter 1 puts current initiatives into historical perspective; chapter 2 describes each of the major documents; chapter 3 discusses the common vision of all of the reform programs; and chapter 4 explores the metaphor of a House of Science to represent the knowledge, abilities, and attitudes that students develop as they become scientifically literate. Part II contains 3 chapters and relates the vision and goals of these key reform documents to the GEMS series. Chapter 5 describes how the GEMS series supports reform goals; chapter 6 discusses building a curriculum with GEMS units; and chapter 7 provides suggestions for engaging in local curriculum planning. This document contains five appendices which include House of Science Transparency Masters for use in presentations to the education community. (PVD)