Drawing upon the experience of the Boston Project, the monograph discusses the provision of technical assistance to large urban school systems particularly in relation to the collaborative relationship between state education agencies (SEAs) and their respective local education agencies (LEAs) in complying with P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section I, on the need for technical assistance, discusses four premises: large cities need major external technical assistance, technical assistance should focus on total organizational renewal, SEAs should provide leadership, and SEAs and LEAs should reexamine attitudes and practices related to collaborative action. Sections II and III present a case study in the provision of technical assistance in a large urban school system (Boston). A fourth section outlines a technical assistance process model which involves eight time specific phases (preliminary negotiations; needs assessment; goal setting; model building; task, strategy, accountability specification; implementation; outcome evaluation; and recycle/reprogram) and five generic activities (legitimation, process evaluation, decision recording, task and strategy reprograming, and change agent training). A table offers phase by phase explications of the technical assistance process model. A final section addresses operational requirements and technical assistance considerations in Boston Project replication. Appended is a table of renewal targets and cycle specifications. (SBH)