This collection explores the political context of efforts to change urban education. The contributors examine various issues in a variety of settings, and they show how hard it is to rearrange political relationships so that they will be conducive to school reform. The following essays are included: (1) "Introduction: Urban Education in Political Context" (Clarence N. Stone); (2) "Can We Desegregate Public Schools and Subsidized Housing? Lessons from the Sorry History of Yonkers, New York" (Jennifer Hochschild and Michael N. Danielson); (3) "Regionalism Forestalled: Metropolitan Fragmentation and Desegregation Planning in Greater New Haven, Connecticut" (Kathryn A. McDermott); (4) "Consensus Building and School Reform: The Role of the Courts in San Francisco" (Luis Ricardo Fraga, Bari Anhalt Erlichson, and Sandy Lee); (5) "The Challenge of School Reform in Baltimore: Race, Jobs, and Politics" (Marion Orr); (6) "Grassroots Action in East Brooklyn: A Community Organization Takes Up School Reform" (Timothy Ross); (7) "Strategy and Tactics in Subsystem Protection: The Politics of Education Reform in Montgomery County, Maryland" (Cheryl L. Jones and Connie Hill); (8) "Corporate Influence on Chicago School Reform" (Dorothy Shipps); (9) "School Politics in Houston: The Impact of Business Involvement" (Thomas Longoria, Jr.); (10) "Education and Regime Change in Charlotte" (Stephen Samuel Smith); (11) "Changing Urban Education: Defining the Issues" (Kathryn M. Doherty); (12) "Civic Capacity and Urban School Reform" (Clarence N. Stone); and (13) "Changing Urban Education: Lessons, Cautions, Prospects" (Michael N. Danielson and Jennifer Hochschild). Each chapter contains endnotes. (Contains 2 figures and 14 tables.) (SLD)