This paper describes a student teacher's experience in a school-university partnership and investigates the converging influences of the school and the university on the student teacher. The study examined the experience of a student teacher in the Puget Sound Professional Development Center Middle School Preservice Teacher Education Program, a fifth year program built around an interdisciplinary core seminar, field experience, and on-site supervision. Sara, a nontraditional teacher education student in her late 30s, was the principal informant for the study. The coursework for the program, as well as details of Sara's student teaching placement, are outlined. Several excerpts from her journal are included, as well as descriptions of lesson plans and transcripts of discussions between Sara and her cooperating teacher. The study identifies the benefits of a field experience in the context of a school-university partnership, including: experience for students with a variety of educational practices; gradual enlargement of the field experience, from cross-site visits to part-time student teaching, and finally to full-time student teaching; careful matching of student teachers with cooperating teachers; on-site supervisors; and cohort support in the school to ease the transition from campus to the school. However, there seemed to be a one-way influence from the campus to the school in terms of new teaching strategies. Although the cooperating teacher provided a laboratory for the student teacher to experiment, she did not challenge Sara to be more conscious of the underlying assumptions of new teaching strategies and thus encourage more reflective teaching. The findings suggest several areas for further study including: ways to better integrate course work and internship; ways to expand the cooperating teacher's role to include criticism; and ways to develop more inquiring attitudes toward new teaching strategies. (Contains 22 references.) (ND)