Preparing pre-service education candidates to be successful in today's classroom is a complex task. There must be a bridge between theory and practice that requires a collaborative effort between universities and public schools. This article presents: (1) teacher educators with a field-based clinical model for preparing pre-service teacher education candidates; (2) classroom teachers with effective mentoring strategies; and, (3) public school and university administrators strategies for working with a more authentic model of teacher preparation that requires deep and rich clinical field experiences to help novice teachers become more effective in today's schools. (Contains 1 table.)