The Baltimore School and Family Connections Project is a collaborative effort of schools, a university, and a community organization to design comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnerships, and to assess the implementation and effects of the practices that are selected. This case study explores one school's efforts to involve middle grades students and their families in learning activities at home during the summer break. The research takes a two-step approach to evaluate the implementation of the intervention, and then its impact on student learning. Results show that for most seventh graders, scores on language skills in the fall were explained by students' prior achievement in the sixth grade, being female, and having good attendance. Some students, however, particularly those who were marginal in skills, did better than expected on skills in the fall if they worked on more activities in the Summer Home Learning Packets. Also, students at all ability levels who worked with a parent were significantly more likely to do more of the activities in the packets than students who worked alone. This case study also indicates the value of an action research approach that emphasizes the “shared role of experts,” drawing strength from the mutual work and unique contributions of educators, facilitators, and researchers. Within this action research approach, a two-step evaluation strategy appears to assist schools to take purposeful, incremental steps on their own and with researchers to design, improve, and study the effects of practices to improve school programs, family involvement, and student learning.