This paper reviews 1993 trends and issues in urban education in five sections. Following an introduction, the first section describes the economic conditions of today's diverse urban public school students and the way that poverty differentially affects various ethnic and racial student groups. A second section analyzes key educational policies affecting urban students: school choice, desegregation, magnet schools, and school finance. A third section reviews a variety of special programs for students disadvantaged by poverty, minority status, and/or disability. A fourth section reviews a group of linked practices that are in the midst of turmoil and change because they all seek to handle the growing diversity among students in a new way. This section covers testing and tracking, instructional practices for heterogeneous groups of students; student learning styles; and three popular models for school restructuring: Accelerated Schools, the School Development Program, and Success for All. A final section looks at the role of parents in educational reform. An author biography is included. (Contains 187 references.) (JB)