This report on educational reform shows how three dynamic but quite different organizations are currently attempting to secure quality education for urban disadvantaged children. Aspira of New York, Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization, and Harlem Parents Union are three self-help groups that seek quality education for poor children but differ as to leadership, constituencies, and strategies. Whether these organizations are calling for bilingual instruction, compensatory programs, or educational vouchers, they want to improve children's basic cognitive skills; and they are pressing for school reforms because they feel that economic success depends upon better basic education. Their current school strategies are not integrationist. Finally, although they continue to engage in community organization, they also are taking legal action to secure quality education. This report indicates that positive action, the implementation of a court order, may require more organizational resources than initiating a suit and getting the court to agree that school officials have violated the law. If the children of the poor are to have quality education, they will need advocates outside the ghetto, but they will also need an organized community. (Author/JM)