This paper provides a framework for analyzing teachers' content decisions and for determining the extent to which they are influenced by state/district policies. Examples of research based on this framework are presented in the area of elementary school mathematics. Content decisions are defined as decisions of how much time will be devoted to a subject, what topics will be taught, to whom they will be taught, and how well topics are to be learned. To understand more precisely the effect of external policies on teachers, a bottom-up approach is advocated. This approach starts with an analysis of what teachers do and treats external policies as but one of many factors influencing them. In one study, selected teachers from three districts were chosen for variation in centralization of curriculum policy. Selected findings from this study are presented, including, for example, the response of teachers to a new district textbook, district testing programs, and a district management-by-objectives system. These case studies indicate that external policies, even when weak, do influence teachers' content decisions. In effect, the teachers studied acted as political brokers, arbitrating between their own priorities and the implied priorities of external policies. (Author/JN)