Research partnerships between school districts and universities can be extremely beneficial to both institutions, but these partnerships require many skills that academics and district leaders generally do not have, making these collaborations challenging to set up and difficult to maintain. Co-authored by a university professor and a school district leader, this article examines from both perspectives why more of these research partnerships are needed, why they are not more common, and how these barriers can be overcome, using an example of a recently formed partnership with one of the nation's largest school districts.