This document examines specifically relevant issues and offers useful guidance in making decisions for elementary and secondary school mathematics education in the 1980's. The expertise of 19 authors is reflected in 14 chapters that provide an overview of mathematics today and recommendations for the future. The individual chapters are titled: (1) Assessing the Mathematics Curriculum Today; (2) Problem Solving: Is It a Problem?; (3) The Role of Computation; (4) Measurement; How Much?; (5) Knowing Rational Numbers; Ideas and Symbols; (6) Probability and Statistics; Today's Ciphering; (7) Geometry; What Shape for a Comprehensive, Balanced Curriculum?; (8) The Role of Manipulative Materials in the Learning of Mathematical Concepts; (9) Computers and Calculators in the Mathematics Classroom; (10) Attitudes and Mathematics; (11) Sex-Related Issues in Mathematics Education; (12) The Teacher Variable in Mathematics Instruction; (13) National Assessment: A Perspective of Students' Mastery of Basic Mathematics Skills; and (14) Recommendations for School Mathematics Programs of the 1980's. (MP)