We study the three-year impact of a private tuition-free middle school on theacademic outcomes of poor students. Several features of the treatment school fit withinnovative paradigms that have delivered successful outcomes in poor urban areas. Our research design exploits the excess of applicants over the school capacity andthe fact that participants were selected randomly. Specifically, we follow a cohort ofstudents that entered middle school in 2010 and that were randomly assigned toattend the treatment school or public school as usual. We find that the treatmentschool impacted favorably on students’ academic advancement and athcompetencies. Also, the treatment school had a positive–and quite robust over time-impact on students’ and their parents’ academic expectations. This culture of highexpectations has been previously identified in the literature as a key input for schoolsuccess.