Many Hollywood films show the struggles of students with disabilities. More often than not, the struggle involves a clash between family and school. Real life shows that the movies have some of it right. According to MetLife's 2005 Survey of the American Teacher, new teachers often consider working with parents to be their biggest challenge. Both new and veteran teachers hear negative comments about difficult parents in teachers' lounges. But for families of children in special education, school procedures and paperwork often end with families on the defensive and frequent conflicts with school officials. To create better parent-teacher relations, teacher candidates at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, are forging new partnerships to tame their fears about working with families. In the semester right before they do their student teaching, teacher candidates take a preservice course involving several families trained by The Advocacy Center, a local nonprofit disability-advocacy organization. Instead of reading case studies, these preservice students worked with volunteer parents of students with disabilities to learn how to build productive relationships with students' families.