This study investigated educators' views of collaboration with scientists, a baseline for COSEE Great Lakes efforts in facilitating dynamic collaborative relationships between Great Lakes researchers and educators. Three research questions guided the study: (1) how are educators in the Great Lakes region involved in collaboration with scientists, (2) what barriers may deter their involvement and (3) which factors are related to educators' potential in educational collaboration. From 180 schools randomly selected in the eight Great Lakes States, 194 educators responded to a mailed survey concerning their views of science and science teaching/learning, attitudes toward collaboration, professional preparation, experience in collaboration with scientists, perceived barriers, and motivating factors in collaboration. Regression analysis shows that five predictor variables account for a majority of the variance in explaining educators' experience in collaboration with scientists (a combined predictive ability of 32%): attitudes toward collaboration, professional preparation (science competencies), teaching experience in years, contemporary views of science/science education, and perceived institutional supports. Results of surveys suggest that professional development programs may be needed to improve educators capacity as collaborators in the efforts to increase science literacy.