In May 2001, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced the establishment of the Global Development Alliance (GDA) as a key part of a new business model for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The GDA initiative aims to launch best practices in public-private partnerships around the world. The model is designed to encourage economic growth, develop businesses and workforces, address health and environmental problems, and expand access to education and technology. In response to the dire need to support education in Nicaragua, the Global Development Alliance/Public Private Alliances in Education Program was launched in October 2002 through a cooperative agreement with the Academy for Educational Development (AED). The primary objective of GDA Nicaragua was to extend the educational reforms of the USAID-funded Basic Education Project in Nicaragua (BASE) in partnership with the private sector through the Model School Expansion project (GDA/MSE). AED also strove to integrate the donations and contributions of the private sector into the Model School reform to enhance the overall impact of partner activities. In designing GDA/MSE, AED decided to link its educational goals with those of AMCHAM and ANF, two local organizations with education projects already in place. Throughout the project, various actors took on new and exciting roles, helping the project expand and reach an unprecedented number of school communities outside the initial Model School network. In fact, the GDA project went beyond its initial goal of supporting 130 schools and grew to 171 schools. The schools demonstrated improvement in a short time with an overall 3% increase in student retention and an average 4.25% increase in test scores. With the backbone of USAID support, many private-sector companies expanded their support, newly confident that their donations would positively impact education. As a result, GDA successfully harnessed the participation of more than 50 private-sector sponsors who supported the project goals in diverse ways. The synergy enabled by this alliance propelled the education initiatives to new and exciting heights in Nicaragua. The GDA/MSE project has distinguished itself as a true success story for public-private partnerships in education. This publication outlines the primary ingredients for creating this successful public-private partnership in education and provides a snapshot of how the program affected participating school communities and sponsors.