The 21 urban research universities that are members of the Great Cities' Universities (GCU) annually enroll approximately 20 percent of the students in the United States who are preparing to teach in K12 urban schools. This study examined the experiences of GCU-sponsored, school-university teacher preparation partnerships in Atlanta, Houston, Kansas City, St. Louis and Milwaukee. How did the partnership participants describe their experiences? What were the most important lessons learned? Qualitative analyses, based on group interviews with each partnership, produced themes which are discussed in terms of current practice and future implications for preparing urban teachers. (Contains 5 figures.)