Selections in this book, which grew from a seminar at New York University between 1994 and 1996, discuss the recent educational innovations of charter schools, contracting arrangements, and choice that are designed to liberate educators and raise the levels of opportunity for all students. The essays, which focus on the urban experience, explore lessons to be learned from Catholic schools, site-based management, and private entrepreneurs in education, as well as specific developments in New York City, Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and Chicago (Illinois). Taken together, these essays envision a system of dynamic, diverse, performance-based, and accountable schools. The following are included: (1) "New York: The Obsolete Factory" (Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti); (2) "The Charter School Movement" (Louann A. Bierlein); (3) "Contracting in Public Education" (Paul T. Hill); (4) "Lessons in School Reform from the Edison Project" (John E. Chubb); (5) "School Choice in Milwaukee" (Paul E. Peterson and Chad Noyes); (6) "Catholic Lessons for Public Schools" (Valerie E. Lee); (7) "Chicago School Reform" (Anthony S. Bryk, David Kerbow, and Sharon Rollow); (8) "Successful School-Based Management: A Lesson for Restructuring Urban Schools" (Priscilla Wohlstetter, Susan Albers Mohrman, and Peter J. Robertson); (9) "The Politics of Change" (Chester E. Finn, Jr.); and (10) "Somebody's Children: Educational Opportunity for All American Children" (Diane Ravitch). (Contains eight figures and nine tables.) (SLD)