In fall 2001, the University of Pennsylvania opened a public elementary school a few blocks away from its West Philadelphia campus. With the opening of this school, Penn joined the list of colleges and universities that have recently gone into the business of operating elementary or secondary schools. In each situation, the university role differs somewhat--for example, Penn is working in partnership with the teachers union and school district, while the University of Chicago and several other universities actually run their own charter schools--but in every case the university is assuming a responsibility that has traditionally been outside of its sphere. Indeed, the founding of many of these schools was at least partly informed by a larger development in higher education: the emergence of a heightened commitment to civic and community engagement on the part of major research universities. In this article, the author uses primary and secondary source material to explore the history of these schools, examine the role they have played in the larger educational arena, and attempt to draw some connections between historical versions and their more recent incarnations. She argues that the latest round of university-operated schools, with their goal of serving low-income, urban communities, represents something of a new direction for this endeavor. She further argues, however, that an examination of the history of university-run schools has much to offer in terms of understanding the particular challenges such schools face. (Contains 11 endnotes.)