Compared to the former official curriculum standard for elementary schools and junior high schools, the new Taiwan Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guideline includes an important change regarding the form of the curriculum document. That is, the teaching material guidelines for each grade (or for every two grades) in each subject are now replaced by competence indicators of key stage for each two or three grades, in each study field. Here the author investigates the meaning of this change by three dimensions: reviewing the historical context of the grade 1-9 curriculum reform, examining the advantages and disadvantages of the new form of the curriculum document, and analyzing the results of a large scale survey done at the end of 2006. Based on these three points, the author concludes that it is necessary to include the essential elements of the curriculum contents in the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines for each study field. In addition, the author gives some suggestions regarding how to do this.