Participatory research in education provides an opportunity for university-based researchers to collaborate with teachers to develop understandings and to overcome the school-university and research-practice divides. Several studies illuminate the challenges inherent in conducting participatory research within the institutional context of schools, particularly in achieving a truly equitable research relationship. The purpose of this paper is to argue for a more pragmatic and dynamic view of equity and expertise between school- and university-based collaborators. Elaborating examples from a partnership with teachers at the elementary level, this paper illustrates the complex power dynamics that existed between university- and community-based stakeholders. It points to the need to work with and against existing power structures to co-create multiple and shifting positions of expertise that keep the learning communities open and alive for the promotion of transformative educational practices.