Often, for preservice students, teacher education programs consist of a series of disjointed experiences that fail to make a connection with their fieldwork and student teaching. For example, preservice teachers typically read about how to incorporate specific teaching methods, classroom management strategies, and assessment tools into their instructional practice, but rarely get the chance to implement and research how these techniques will work in their own classrooms. There is a solution, however, that will give preservice teachers, and in-service teachers as well, the opportunity to systematically incorporate these techniques into their classrooms while investigating their usefulness. The solution is a tried-and-true professional development tool called "action research." Preservice teachers who engage in action research will develop new skills necessary to reflect on and evaluate their students' learning in addition to their own teaching practices. Action research represents one mechanism that may help the beginning teacher succeed in making the transition from being a student teacher to managing his or her own successful classroom. This article discusses what action research is and how it will help new teachers become effective teacher-leaders. (Contains 1 figure and 3 resources.)