This book analyzes how community-based organizations in low income urban neighborhoods can promote reform of their local public schools. Chapter 1, "Reassessing the Declining Urban Neighborhood," discusses the sources of urban decline in terms of a structural relationship between "haves" and "have-nots." Chapter 2, "Reassessing Victimhood," explores residents' attitudes toward schools. Chapter 3, "The Failures of Inner-City Public Schools," is a brief analysis of the complexity of the schooling process, which obscures the operation of institutional racism and class prejudice. Chapter 4, "The Limits of Popular Reform Movements," compares and contrasts several recently proposed models of school reform. Chapter 5, "Forerunners of Citizen Influence in Education," and Chapter 6, "The Liberal Legacy of Citizen Participation in Education," form a historical review of citizen participation in schools over the past 150 years. Chapter 7, "Multi-Issue Neighborhood Organizations," examines the contemporary neighborhood organization. Chapter 8, "Exploring Organizational Linkages Between Neighborhood and School," critically explores theoretical linking mechanisms. Chapter 9, "Lessons from Case Studies of Organizing," draws common lessons from case studies of school reform. Chapter 10, "Mounting the Campaign to Improve the Neighborhood School," provides a specific set of suggestions and considerations for neighborhood organizations to improve their local schools. Footnotes, a list of about 200 references, and an index are also included. (FMW)