This paper describes the implementation of technical assistance strategies to enhance urban public school improvement in the Oakland, California, and Chicago, Illinois, school districts. The assistance strategies were developed under the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA) of the Center for New Schools in Chicago, and implemented by the regional technical assistance teams of Eugene (Oregon)/Oakland and Chicago. The paper presents an analytical framework for examining team assistance styles, consisting of six stages: exchanging information, distinguishing roles, building relationships, identifying and making links, using materials, and checking for usefulness. The assistance styles of each team are analyzed by describing how the stages in the framework were carried out in the following activities: (1) team organization; (2) entry into school assistance sites; (3) provision of assistance; and (4) withdrawal from the site. Next, the paper discusses changes that the assistance process brought about in different areas of the local school context. Finally, issues that emerged from the assistance process are considered and presented as tools for analyzing past work and planning future strategies in technical assistance provision for urban school improvement. (MJL)