The Plains Elementary School/Ohio University Partnership Project began in 1991 as a collaborative effort between a university and a public school to restructure the professional development of preservice teachers, elementary school staff, and College of Education faculty. Each year a cohort group of approximately 25 Ohio University junior-level students spends an academic year at an elementary school at which the school's faculty and college teacher educators provide theoretical frameworks and instruction in teaching strategies that are implemented by preservice teachers in the classroom. Action research is used in the partnership to gather information about student and program performance through two strands in The Plains Project. In one strand, teachers working with the students seek ways to solve classroom problems, and in the other, a university professor attempts to link a curriculum foundations course with work in which preservice teachers are engaged. Experiences of particular student interns illustrate the action research perspective. The action research projects at the Plains School allow both classroom and preservice teachers to place the notion of research into a realistic perspective and to feel a sense of empowerment. (Contains one table and eight references.) (SLD)