In 2005, the Clarence Edwards middle school in Boston was failing. It was one of the lowest-performing schools in the city and on the verge of closure. Today, the school is thriving as one of Boston's highest-performing middle schools. The catalyst for this dramatic turnaround was the implementation of a new, partner-dependent expanded learning time and opportunities model in September 2006, which extended the day by three hours and created partnerships with a few select community organizations to deliver instruction and programming during the expanded hours. Citizen Schools is a nonprofit organization that has delivered after-school and expanded day programming at middle schools since 1995. Citizen Schools focuses on the middle school years because middle school students are particularly in need of the kind of relevant learning, meaningful relationships, and rigorous studies that Citizen Schools' programming provides. In this article, Citizen Schools shares lessons learned through years of experience developing and sustaining effective partnerships with schools around the country. (Contains 10 notes.)