In the 1986/87 academic year, biology teachers are to become competent in teaching from the improved biology curriculum. The USSR Ministry of Education and the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences have worked hard on the review of the content of the school curricula in accordance with the Fundamental Directions of General Education and Vocational School Reform. This project has involved specialists from the ministries, the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences' scientific research institutes, the union-republic scientific research institutes of schools (or pedagogy), institutes of teacher improvement, experienced teacher-methodologists, the staffs of public education administrative organs, and scholars and scientists from the USSR Academy of Sciences, Mikhail V. Lomonosov State University (Moscow), the Vladimir I. Lenin State Pedagogical Institute (Moscow), the Alexander I. Herzen State Pedagogical Institute (Leningrad), and other institutions. The draft curriculum was discussed by teachers, methods experts, and education scholars. After receiving approval from the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences' Presidium and the USSR Ministry of Education's Academic Methodological Council, the curricula were thoroughly reviewed by the Administrative Board [Collegium] of the USSR Ministry of Education.