This special issue journal on the politics of urban education contains the following articles: (1) "The Politics of Urban Education as a Field of Study: An Interpretive Analysis" (K. K. Wong); (2) "Urban Education as a Field of Study: Problems of Knowledge and Power" (J. G. Cibulka); (3) "Knowledge and Power in Research into the Politics of Urban Education" (J. Spring); (4) "Public Choice Perspectives on Urban Schools" (J. G. Weeres and B. Cooper); (5) "Leadership Turnover and Business Mobilization: The Changing Political Ecology of Urban School Systems" (B. L. Jackson and J. G. Cibulka); (6) "Urban Schools as Organizations: Political Perspectives" (R. L. Crowson and W. L. Boyd); (7) "Urban Politics and State School Finance in the 1980s" (T. B. Timar); (8) "Political and Financial Support for School-Based and Child-Centered Reforms" (R. A. King and C. K. McGuire); (9) "Urban School Desegregation: From Race to Resources" (D. Colton and S. Uchitelle); (10) "School Decentralization and Empowerment" (R. J. Reed); (11) "Politics and Federal Aid to Urban School Systems: The Case of Chapter One" (C. D. Herrington and M. E. Orland); (12) "Equity, Adequacy and Educational Need: The Courts and Urban School Finance" (L. F. Miron, P. F. First, and R. K. Wimpelberg); and (13) "Toward Improved Knowledge and Policy on Urban Education" (C. E. Bidwell). All of the articles contain extensive references. (JB)