The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine (a) the role of the cooperating teacher in relationship to his or her assigned student teachers, (b) the cooperating teachers' training and preparation for those roles, and (c) the cooperating teachers' perceived needs regarding training and support. Ten cooperating teachers from different elementary schools in the San Francisco Bay Area participated in the study. Half of the cooperating teachers had student teachers from a local branch of a state university, and the other half hosted student teachers from a private university. The study included one-on-one interviews with cooperating teachers who worked with student teachers in the Spring or Fall semesters of 2009. The results of the data analysis and the emergent themes indicated that cooperating teachers perceived that their roles in relationship to their student teachers were to reflect, encourage, support, observe, evaluate, and provide experiences that bridge pedagogy to practice. The cooperating teachers reported that they lacked training for these roles and relied on their own teaching experience. Cooperating teachers suggested training and support needs as more university engagement, classes, prescreening and selection of practicum partners, reimbursement, and guidelines for pacing during the semester with the student teacher. The cooperating teachers perceived a lack of university support but agreed that information packets were provided at the onset of the practicum and conferences with the university supervisor and student teacher took place. The cooperating teachers reported transformations in their own teaching practices during the practicum experience through collaborative interactions and personal relationships with their student teachers and exposure to current educational practices and pedagogy. The data analysis also suggested that cooperating teachers are selected in a variety of ways with little or no standardization of selection criteria and that they perform a wide-range of tasks for which they receive no training from the supervising university. The State of California requires teacher-training programs to support and train cooperating teachers; however, at this time, cooperating teachers volunteer to host student teachers without receiving training, remuneration, or recognition. Results of the interviews suggest a need to standardize the cooperating teacher selection and training process and provide a minimum level of training and support as student teachers prepare to enter the teaching profession. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]