Spurred by the economic boom of the late 1990s and a decades-old national standards movement that increased both the transparency of assessment results and the awareness of urban public school failure, communities across the country are turning to community organizing as a strategy for improving public education. As organizations confront the problems of local schools, they are creating forums for parents, youth and community residents to discuss concerns and work collectively for improvement. As these efforts mature, groups are developing and refining school improvement strategies that combine broad accountability pressure with a school-level focus. They are learning how to hold school system leadership accountable for better academic outcomes while building the relationships between school staff and administrators and parents, youth and community that are so critical to schooling success. Based on a 2000 survey of school reform organizing nationally and subsequent research conducted by the New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy, this publication offers community organizers, parents, youth and residents a number of field-tested strategies for organizing for school improvement. Through a series of issue briefs, we explore how community groups are responding to three strategic organizing challenges: (1) developing partnerships with schools based on accountability; (2) organizing both youth and adults for public education reform; and (3) improving instructional practice in low performing schools.