An urban school district and a university developed a curriculum emphasizing academic language for its English language learners (ELL) students. The partnership began when the district's elementary ESL coordinator approached three university faculty for support in developing a three-year summer school curriculum emphasizing mathematics and science for the ELL students enrolled in the Language Center Program. In this article, the authors report on the outcomes that resulted from the planned objectives and on the unanticipated outcomes that spontaneously resulted as the partnership evolved. The authors begin with a discussion of the primary and the secondary objectives the partnership sought to achieve. The primary objectives included support for ELLs in acquiring academic language and the development of a science and mathematics content-based curriculum. In addition, the authors expected to collect research data and, through the implementation phase of the project, to provide ELLs with opportunities to experience authentic integrated instruction.