This publication contains three articles that examine the changing role of the urban superintendent. The first presents highlights of interviews with Dr. Walter Amprey, superintendent of the Baltimore City Public Schools, and Dr. Donald Ingwerson, who served 12 years as the superintendent of the Jefferson County, Kentucky, Public Schools. Each superintendent related his experiences with collaborative projects and emphasized the importance of collaboration in educational reform. The second article describes a National Science Foundation grant program for the betterment of urban schools--the Urban Systemic Initiative (USI). The USI is aimed at a limited number of large cities to initiate systemic reform to foster experimentation, accelerate the rate of change, and implement systemwide improvement in K-12 students' achievement in mathematics, science, and technology. The third article summarizes comments made at the January, 1993, meeting of the Urban Superintendents' Network by the mayors of five cities--Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Tacoma, Washington, and Washington, D.C. The final section includes a review of the book "Together We Can: A Guide for Crafting a Profamily System of Education and Human Services." A list of OERI Superintendents' Network members is included. (LMI)