A good number of scholars have recently addressed concerns about the disconnect between higher education and K-12 practice. According to Goldring and Sims (2005), those involved with leadership preparation must connect thought to action. Although many have taken the position that collaboration is essential, it has been much more difficult to envision what effective partnerships look like and how they might transform administrator preparation, school leadership practice, and, ultimately, student achievement. Principal preparation should devote equal attention to theory and practice to promote a new era of school leaders capable of transforming schools. This requires a partnership between universities and districts for leadership preparation, certainly not the elimination of either, and the valuing of what each brings to the table for aspiring leaders. All forms of leadership preparation, including stand-alone district-led programs and district-university partnerships, have unique and ethical challenges. However, optimism for the transformation of leadership preparation may lie in carefully planned and organized collaborative efforts between districts and universities, grounded in relationships of respect and care where attention is given to all perspectives and where diverse voices are heard and valued. This article outlines ideas for designing district-university partnerships for the purpose of developing educational leaders grounded in an ethical framework. Before ideas for a plan of action are shared, the study on which the premise of this article is built is briefly summarized, and it uncovers problems that plagued one stand-alone district-led effort at leadership preparation and probes issues central to the argument for relying on district-university partnerships for transformation. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)