This document provides a brief history of urban school governance and summarizes some of the unique governance structures that have emerged in six American cities and one Canadian province over recent years. By 1920, ward-based systems in most urban areas had given way to systems with a high degree of centralization. These systems were more controllable and efficient, and these large centralized bureaucracies dominated urban education for the first half of the 20th century until the civil rights movement pushed schools to be more responsive to diverse students by returning schools to community control to some extent. In the 1980s, centralization again gained support, but the 1990s have brought reforms that include charter schools, vouchers, and privatization. Profiles are included of the school systems of: (1) Baltimore (Maryland); (2) Chicago (Illinois); (3) Cleveland (Ohio); (4) Milwaukee (Wisconsin); (5) Minneapolis (Minnesota); (6) New Brunswick (Canada); and (7) the District of Columbia. Each profile is organized around a framework that includes legal basis for the reform, district demographics, district leadership, parent and community involvement, changes to collective bargaining, evaluation, costs, and reform results to date. A table displays some of the common elements of the various governance reforms. (Contains 18 references.) (SLD)